Despite the “complexity” of the matter, the rest of the community partners and the European Commissioner for Employment are optimistic and see an agreement possible “in the coming months”
Spain leads the bloc of ten countries that this Thursday in Brussels blocked the agreement on a harmonized ‘Rider law’ in the EU, given the common framework for employees of home delivery platforms – such as Glovo, Deliveroo and Uber Eats – included in the The latest proposal from the European Commission concerned a reduction of labor rights. Together with Spain, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania rejected the proposal.
That refusal – according to Belgian diplomatic sources – “will not change”, which will make it “difficult to reach an agreement”, as they believe the text is not ambitious or protective enough. This is a “firm” position that the second vice president and head of the department, Yolanda Díaz, defended at the meeting of the twenty-seven ministers of labor, when she demanded that the central element of the directive be the proper classification of people who work on the platforms.
“We want a strong, clear presumption of labour, with no deviations, no exceptions,” the minister stressed. In this sense, he pointed out that the Commission’s first proposal did reflect this, based on what is known as the Spanish ‘Rider Law’. However, he criticized that it has now been “devalued” in the new text presented by the Czech Presidency of the Council.
However, Díaz offered to work with the Swedish authorities, who will take up the EU’s rotating presidency in January, to draft a directive “representing real progress towards the social Europe that demands for European citizenship”.
EU labor, employment and social affairs ministers debated their positions on three occasions this Thursday before voting on a text that was amended with amendments after lunch. Despite this, it was ultimately rejected because it failed to reach the qualified majority necessary to move forward.
In any case, despite fierce opposition from the blocking minority, the Czech Republic’s Minister of Labor who holds the rotating presidency of the Council, Marian Jurecka, believes the agreement is “very close”. According to his version of what happened, “there was very little left today (Thursday)”, so he was “optimistic” for “the people who need this arrangement”.
Likewise, he appreciated the “patience and efforts” of his community colleagues and lamented that “despite best efforts” they failed to reach a qualified majority agreement on the platform worker dossier.
Similarly, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Nicolas Schmit, acknowledged that it is a “very complex” issue. Still, he noted “significant progress” that he said could make it possible to reach an agreement “in the coming months”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
