Brussels, 01/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - At the request of the European Court of Justice, to which the Swedish Work Tribunal had applied in the “Vaxholm” case, the Commission provided its legal contribution at the Court (for details and union positions see EUROPE 9121). On Wednesday, Commission spokesperson, Joannes Laitenberger, explained how the Commission had given an explanation of how Community law worked, particularly the directive on the detachment of workers (which involves the case in question) and noted that the final decision in this case was up to the Swedish Work Tribunal. According to the Commission, there is no contradiction between the Swedish system of collective bargaining and European legislation.
The Commission Vice President Margot Wallstrom stated that “The Commission does not see any contradiction between the Swedish system of collective bargaining and the EC treaty, on the condition that implementation of this system respects the four freedoms in the treaty, including that provision of services”. She also declared during the Wednesday press conference (see other article) on the subject that the system enabled Swedish unions to intervene in collective negotiations when workers from other countries were employed by a company, “this remained in the framework of the directive on the detachment of workers, which defines the norms for the workers' host country”. She insisted on the fact that “it is up to the Swedish authorities to make the final decision in this affair”. She concluded that it was important to know whether the Swedish collective negotiations system conformed with the treaty.