Member states’ positions on the Digital Platform Workers Directive have not moved since the 8 December ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ Council, when the Czech Presidency of the EU Council made a last-ditch attempt to secure an agreement (see EUROPE 13080/16), sources said on Tuesday 14 February.
The Swedish Presidency convened a discussion group on 13 February on the basis of a discussion note on four specific points (see EUROPE 13113/8): - the criteria for triggering the presumption of employment and the provision that a digital platform may not be considered to meet a criterion for triggering the presumption of employment under the Directive, if it is already required to apply that criterion under national law or under national collective agreements; - the material effects of the reclassification of workers; - the exclusion of certain authorities (social, fiscal, criminal) from the scope of the Directive; - the discretion given to authorities not to apply the presumption in clear cases where it would not be justified.
But the positions expressed by the delegations on 13 February have not changed at all, according to these sources. The group of countries described as ‘pro-Commission’, which in December supported the Commission’s initial proposals deemed to be more protective of the definition of the presumption of salaried employment, and which includes the Benelux countries, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania, has stuck to its positions.
The German government, for its part, still has no position.
According to one source, the likely option at this stage would be for the Swedish Presidency to convene another working group before submitting a new compromise to the Member States. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)