Luxembourg, 03/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - The ruling "Laval un Partneri versus Swedish Unions" is unlikely to be ruled upon before the end of 2007. The Swedish labour tribunal, which referred the matter to the European Court of Justice, failed to convince its President, Vassilios Skouris, that this was a matter of extreme urgency. It is, therefore, unlikely that the ruling will be returned in the next few months, as for cases which are able to be heard under the so-called accelerated procedure. This case brings the Latvian company Laval un Partneri up against three Swedish Unions- including the Union representing construction workers and electricians- before the Arbetsdomstolen, after these Unions had prevented Laval labourers from working on a Swedish building site.
In an order which dates from 15 November 2005, but which was published late and amid no publicity, Vassilios Skouris criticises the Swedish labour tribunal for having simply stated that this case will have an impact on the Swedish labour market. This is not enough to declare a case urgent, the Court President explains. Furthermore, the Swedish labour tribunal mentions just one building site- for the construction of the school at Vaxholm -as being affected by the actions taken by the Swedish Unions. Even though there had been more building sites involved, the Swedish court merely stressed the importance of the dossier, but not the urgency inherent in returning a swift ruling, concluded Vassilios Skouris.
Laval un Partneri called upon the Swedish labour tribunal to rule against the practices of the Unions, which forced it to abandon the site, and called for the same Unions to pay damages with interest. In September 2005, before ruling, the Swedish court asked the European Court of Justice to interpret the European directive on the secondment of workers to another Member State of the EU, and the rules under the EC treaty on the freedom to provide services. The Swedish tribunal asked the Court whether the fact that the Unions had attempted to force the Latvian company to sign collective agreements laying down working conditions and minimum salaries was compatible with European legislation.
This matter has taken on considerable importance in the eye of the public and, replying to questions from the press on this issue on Wednesday, the Swedish Commissioner Margot Wallström and Commission spokesperson Johannes Laitenberger commented on what they described as the Commission's legal contribution to this issue (see EUROPE 9112).
This contribution consists of the observations systematically presented by the Commission , as is its right, in any so-called prejudicial case which is referred by a national court to the European Court of Justice. Under the procedure, the Court will send the European institutions, and the 25 Member States, a copy of the dossier tabled by the Swedish tribunal. The Commission received its copy on 25 November 2005, and it had until 31 January to put forward its observations (deadline of two months plus " travelling time"), which it did on Tuesday (see the above-mentioned edition of EUROPE). Any Member States wanting to put forward any comments have also done so already, or will be doing so in the next few days.
Given the procedure- translations and a further preliminary report- it will be a struggle to set the date for the hearing of the parties in under a year. It will then take several months for the Advocate General to present conclusions and for the Court to return its verdict.
Still in the field of legal affairs, it is worth noting that two releases from the Latvian News Agency, dated 23 May 2005 and 14 June 2005 respectively, related the decision of the Swedish Confederation of Employers to pay Laval un Partneri the sum of 500,000 Swedish crowns- a little over 50,000 EUR- to cover its legal costs. The Latvian agency quotes a declaration attributed to the Confederation's director, Jan-Peter Duker, to the effect that the Confederation has had enough of "ambiguous" Swedish legislation and its Unions, and hopes that the European Court of Justice will put the matter in order. The Confederation, it continues, took this decision at the beginning of the year when it became clear that the legal costs were starting to outstrip the financial capacity of the company [Laval]. Indeed, certain European sources believe that the company may be heading for bankruptcy.