The European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, took stock of various legislative and non-legislative matters with the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) on Thursday 23 March. Among other things, he reiterated the Commission’s refusal to propose a directive on minimum income in the EU.
Pressed to do so by MEPs Agnes Jongerius (S&D, Dutch) and Sara Matthieu (Greens/EFA, Belgian) to help people “make ends meet” and get out of poverty, the Commissioner said that “this will not happen” under this Commission, which will stick to implementing the recommendation adopted at the end of the year on this subject.
The Commissioner had already said this in plenary, when the MEPs voted on a resolution calling on the Commission to present a legislative initiative (see EUROPE 13142/13).
Regarding other matters, the Commissioner told MEPs that the first phase of the consultation with the European social partners on the revision of the European Works Council directive would be launched “in the next few days”. He already announced that he will propose a directive following this consultation (see EUROPE 13135/27).
With regard to the recent work on the reform of the rules for the coordination of social security schemes (see EUROPE 13146/17), the Commissioner called on Member States to make this reform a success.
“It is important to finalise this matter” and “essential” to make this effort at European level. The Swedish Presidency of the EU Council has just made new proposals on the subject and the Commission will adopt a communication mid-year on the digitalisation of social security procedures.
Nicolas Schmit, on the other hand, was a little more negative about the latest Swedish attempts to deal with the issue of digital platform workers (see EUROPE 13146/18), saying that he was rather dissatisfied with “what has been put forward lately”. The Commissioner has always argued for an ambitious directive to reclassify people incorrectly categorised as self-employed, but the latest proposals would still give too much leeway to Member States not to apply this legal presumption of employment.
Among the announcements made to MEPs, the Commissioner pledged to strengthen the Commission’s work on the labour market exploitation of Ukrainian refugees, who are often in precarious jobs, with new guidelines for Member States in sight.
The Commission will also update its recommendation on occupational diseases in the context of Covid-19 and its impact.
The Commissioner also called on MEPs to make rapid progress on the directive on occupational exposure to asbestos, on which the EMPL committee will vote in mid-April. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)