Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU failed to achieve a breakthrough in their discussions on the Directive on workers on digital platforms on Tuesday evening 3 October. This is despite new proposals put forward by the rapporteur, Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, Italian), on the legal presumption of salaried employment.
This issue, the most controversial in the Directive, was indeed on the agenda for this meeting, even though other chapters were discussed.
According to two sources, the MEP has proposed an important gesture to the Council of the EU on this concept of legal presumption, by proposing to reintroduce into Article 4 of the Directive elements for identifying a relationship of subordination of the worker.
The MEP had removed all the criteria for triggering the presumption from the body of the Directive, leaving them in a recital.
By re-establishing ‘clues’ to identify the presumption, Parliament would therefore move closer to the position of the Council of the EU, which wants at least three out of five criteria to be ticked by a worker for him or her to be considered an employee.
While the MEP’s proposal was supported by the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, ID and ECR Groups, according to one source, it was not supported by The Left and the Greens/EFA. In any case, the negotiators left without a resolution on this point, but the proposal remains on the table.
According to another source, progress has nevertheless been made.
“Parliament has put forward a new proposal on legal presumption and has taken an important step closer to the EU Council. We have explained and clarified the entire process in a way that has never been done before, from the activation of the presumption to the eventual reclassification”, said a source.
The next political meeting is scheduled for November. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)