The European Public Service Union (EPSU) is disappointed with the Commission’s Communication and draft Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue (see EUROPE 13107/1), presented on 25 January.
“We are disappointed the Commission does not propose a clear framework on how to bring forward (European) social partner agreements to make them binding in the EU”, said Jan Willem Goudriaan, EPSU Secretary General, in a statement on 26 January.
The Communication “fails to limit the Commission’s unfettered power on whether or not to implement social partner agreements by EU law”, adds the organisation, which recalls that it had taken the Commission to court on this issue.
While “the Commission’s full discretion was confirmed, judges did not prevent the Commission from establishing - in cooperation with social partners - criteria on how future decisions will be determined”, but the Commission, by also being able to make its own assessment of the impact of the social partners’ agreements, makes the procedure more cumbersome.
Despite a “minor” concession of 3 months to provide preliminary remarks on these agreements, “there is no deadline for the final decision”.
This refusal to amend these provisions therefore clearly undermines “the Commission’s call to social partners to strike more agreements”, says EPSU.
Link to the position: https://aeur.eu/f/542 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)