On Wednesday 18 December, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) presented their ‘red lines’ on Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security schemes to the future Polish Presidency of the EU Council.
Polish trade unions also joined the call. While the European Parliament was delayed by the institutional transition and did not wish to work with the Hungarian Presidency, it is expected to try to settle this matter definitively with Warsaw.
This issue is essential “to safeguard workers’ rights and ensure fair competition across the EU’s internal market, particularly in sectors as exposed to fraud as construction”, write the two federations.
They ask the Presidency to “exclude the construction sector from any exemptions to prior notification, including for short posting periods and business trips”. FIEC and EFBWW are very concerned that these exemptions “could undermine the integrity of inspections and weaken protections for workers”. They would create potential loopholes, leading to unfair competition and workers without social security cover.
They are also calling on Warsaw to “end the deadlock” and finally conclude the revision of the regulation. In the absence of a consensus on the unemployment of cross-border workers and the legislation that has applied for years, a number of capitals are now calling for a partial agreement on the chapters that have already been closed.
On 6 December, the two federations also presented their ‘social’ priorities to the new Commission Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu.
Links: https://aeur.eu/f/evd ; https://aeur.eu/f/eve (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)