3 February Social Affairs Informal

Date: 08/02/1996

MINISTERS gave a generally positive response to a draft compromise on the stalled posted workers directive put forward by the Italian presidency. The new plan would exempt broadcasters and the press from the rules, which already exclude the shipping sector. It would require local rules to apply from day one, but permit companies to seek exemptions granted by “administrative decision” in the host country. Commission officials suggested that key countries such as Germany and France had reacted positively to Italy's plan, but that a lot of work remained to be done on the detail of when exemptions could be granted.

FRUSTRATED over protracted negotiations on an EU-wide deal to protect the rights of posted workers, the German parliament last week took the first step towards introducing national legislation which would give posted workers in Germany the right to the same wages as domestic employees.

REPRESENTATIVES of the employers' federation, UNICE, and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) attended the informal gathering of social affairs ministers for a discussion on ways of improving vocational training to cut EU unemployment. Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn pointed to the success at the Madrid summit in pursuing the Essen employment strategy, but underlined a lack of confidence despite favourable economic conditions. He stressed the need to improve the implementation of the EU's economic policies, calling on ministers to feed their best ideas into Commission President Jacques Santer's new pact for jobs and to link national initiatives into a European framework.