The Member States once again rejected, on Friday 16 February, the agreement reached with the European Parliament on 8 February on the digital platform workers directive (see EUROPE 13347/8).
Although Spain and Italy, whose votes were also being observed, were finally able to rally behind the latest text, the weight of Germany and France, as well as Estonia and Greece, enabled them to form a blocking minority.
Germany had long made known its intention to abstain, as its coalition government had been deadlocked on this issue for months, but did not seek a solution or try to change the discussions in Brussels, which also angered some of its partners.
Nor was there any miracle on the Paris side, which was eagerly awaited because it could also pivot the majority, but which has always been sceptical about this directive. On Friday, France indicated that it was “not in a position to support this draft agreement as it stands” and opted to abstain, according to French sources, although other sources interpreted Paris’s position as yet another ‘no’ vote.
With this latest rejection, the second in two months following an initial setback under the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council on 22 December (see EUROPE 13320/14), the fate of this directive – presented at the end of 2021 by the Commission to improve the lot of 28 million platform workers by reclassifying them as employees if they are bogus self-employed – is back in the dark.
The Belgian Presidency of the EU Council has indicated that it will now reflect on the next steps, but the legislature is coming to an end. And while there is still a possibility of reaching an agreement before mid-March between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament under the so-called ‘corrigendum procedure’, Parliament will also have to give its approval for work to continue. At the end of the meeting, the Belgian Presidency had in any case not indicated any trends for the future.
For the French government, the latest text did not provide an applicable legal framework as it stood, with Paris citing as a source of uncertainty the fact that the Commission this week had to explain the notion of the effectiveness of the legal presumption, while also announcing a support group for transposition, thus proving that the text remains imprecise, sources reported.
France is also said to have pointed out as a difficulty the fact that there could be an obligation of result with the presumption of salaried status as formulated in the text, whereas it should remain an objective.
Paris reportedly raised as well the issue of the coexistence of 27 different national regimes, raising the question of the disparity of legal regimes and the Commission’s interpretation of them, with appeals to the Court of Justice of the EU at the time of transposition.
As for Spain, Austria and Bulgaria, they have accompanied their endorsement of this latest text with a statement criticising its lowered ambitions and the risks to the level playing field between Member States.
“The Spanish delegation’s vote is an exercise in responsibility, given that a large majority of Member States, political groups in the European Parliament and European trade unions support the provisional agreement. However, the Spanish delegation would like to point out that certain provisions of the approved text do not fully comply with what we believe to be the content of this directive”, stated Madrid.
“According to our assessment, the text establishes a weak and unambitious presumption of work, which is the central element of the directive, which is contrary to what the Spanish delegation has always defended since the start of negotiations on this proposal for a directive more than two years ago. The provisional agreement reached in December during the trilogues under the Spanish Presidency established a stronger presumption with employment criteria and a common application threshold throughout the EU. It was more respectful of workers’ rights and more useful in guaranteeing the correct classification of jobs”.
A disappointed Commission
“It is deeply disappointing that the EU Member States were not able to vote through the platform work directive today. The Commission still firmly believes in the need to improve gig workers’ terms and conditions, and create a level playing field across the Union”, reacted European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit on X.
“Liberal and conservative forces in France, Estonia, Greece and Germany wasted a historic opportunity to protect all workers in the digital era. They chose big platforms’ economic interests over European citizens, the European social model and the future of work”, was the reaction of the S&D Group in the European Parliament and of the rapporteur Elisabetta Gualmini (Italian).
“The overwhelming majority of Member States have been prevented from introducing protection for delivery drivers, ride-hailing drivers and care assistants, among others”, said the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). “Millions of workers will continue to be forced into bogus self-employment”.
For the platforms, discussions must be suspended
For its part, Move EU, which represents UBER in particular, said that this latest rejection “confirms that Member States do not want to approve a deal that would have created more legal uncertainty for the hundreds of thousands of ride-hailing drivers in Europe who rely on platforms to generate revenues. It is now high time to pause the discussions and assess after European elections if there is any support for this text for which no agreement has been found in three years and which is not supported by those who would be impacted in the first place”.
Links to the texts of the rejected agreement and the Spanish declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/awi; https://aeur.eu/f/awh; https://aeur.eu/f/awg (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)