European Ministers are preparing for a particularly busy Employment Social and Social Policy Council on Thursday 21 June in Luxembourg, where they are hoping to reach a political agreement of principle (general approach), following the bitter negotiations, on the three following legislative proposals: the regulation on the coordination of social security systems; the directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, and; the work/life balance directive.
On Tuesday 19 June, one diplomatic source confirmed that “The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU has worked very hard to obtain these three general approaches”.
A number of political points will have to be decided by ministers during the Council.
Firstly, the regulation on the coordination of social security systems: ministers will debate social allocations during the public session, particularly on the question of responsibility for cross-border workers (see EUROPE 12041). According to the proposal put forward by the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council, the member state where the cross-border posted worker has paid contributions for a three month period will be responsible for the payment of the social benefits (as opposed to the 12 months proposed by the European Commission). The period for the effective implementation of the regulation has also been increased to 24 months, as opposed to the 12 months in the Commission proposal. Some member states wanted to considerably extend this period (up to seven years) due to the potential impact of this change on their administrative services, such as in Luxembourg where cross-border workers make up more than 40% of the employed workforce.
Another difficult dossier involves the work-life balance directive. The member states are gearing up to significantly water down the contents of the Commission proposal by removing alignment of holiday pay on sickness pay and reducing the non-transferable period to two months (see EUROPE 12043, 12039). These two points will be put on the ministers' negotiating table. Certain delegations (such as Hungary, Poland and the Baltic states) would like to reduce the non-transferable period to one month and others are calling for the mention of “adequate pay” to be removed (such as Ireland and the United Kingdom, for example).
Ministers will also tackle the less divisive third legislative dossier : the directive on transparent and predictable working conditions. In this regard, member states are shifting towards some modifications to the Commission proposal (see EUROPE 12042), particularly for: - excluding certain government officials (police officers, armed forces) from the directive's scope; increasing the maximum volume of working time included outside the directive's scope of application (five hours a week out of an average of four weeks, as opposed to eight hours a month for the Commission); extending the duration in view of providing workers with all comprehensive essential information relating to the contractual relationship by way of a two-phase a month system. In this context, ministers will need to reach an agreement on whether to maintain a European level definition on workers and the partial exclusion of seafarers and sea fishermen from the directive’s scope.
The member states will also adopt three conclusions on the future of work, a report from the European Court of Auditors on the freedom of movement for workers and the second report from the Court of Auditors on support policies for early childhood in the fight against poverty and promoting social inclusion.
European Employment Authority and posted workers
The Bulgarian Presidency will present a progress report to ministers regarding the negotiations on the regulations setting up the future European Employment Authority. These negotiations are making progress although the delegations have many concerns, particularly with regard to respect for national competencies and the way in which the future authority will operate (see EUROPE 12042).
Finally, the agreement reached between the Council and Parliament on the “posted workers” directive will be voted on without debate. This will therefore pave the way to the publication of the new directive in the Official Journal of the European Union. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)