14-15 March Social Affairs informal

Date: 20/03/1997

THE Dutch presidency called for rules governing the winding up of businesses to be tightened in the wake of the surprise closure of the Renault car company's profitable factory in Vilvoorde, Belgium. It stressed the need for a code of conduct to ensure a period of consultation and information “whenever a business wants to shut down”. “The presidency wanted the governments to strengthen their national laws so that it would be impossible for what happened at Renault to happen again,” said one official. Ministers met as tens of thousands of trade unionists from EU member states (notably Belgium, France and Spain) marched through Brussels to protest at the loss of 3,100 jobs at the Vilvoorde plant.

A PRESIDENCY statement issued after the meeting outlined the approach the Dutch would like to see adopted to similar situations in future. “Restructuring is naturally a continuous process in the context of the internal market. What matters, however, is the way in which this is carried out. Attention has to be paid to the social dimension of ongoing processes of restructuring,” said the statement. “Information and consultation are essential conditions for social acceptance of restructuring.” This proviso should be legally guaranteed in the case of multinational companies as well as other undertakings, the Dutch continued, arguing this was the only way to ensure that existing Union directives on worker consultation and mass redundancies were respected. Dutch officials, along with representatives from the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the social partners, will meet in 'the coming weeks' to agree on a common approach to the closure of business rules.

TRADE UNION leaders echoed the presidency's concerns. European Trade Union Federation (ETUC) President Emilio Gabaglio told ministers that he expected urgent action to prevent a repeat of the Renault situation.

ELSEWHERE, ministers discussed the possibility of using 'bench-marking' to compare strategies for tackling unemployment. They agreed to continue monitoring the success of job creation initiatives formulated at the 1994 European summit in Essen.