Following the trilogue’s adoption of the revised text of the EWC directive on 21 May, are you satisfied with the outcome?
We’ll have to wait for its final adoption by the European Parliament, which will happen in September, after the necessary checks have been made on the legal validity of the agreement reached by the trilogue. However, the text is merely a necessary consequence of the process triggered by the European Commission, following its evaluation of Directive 2009/38, as published in 2016, with a view to ensuring that the law is effective and that transnational representation of workers can function smoothly, in terms of providing information and consultation. The Commission has recognised that there have been problems with the directive’s implementation, and it has put forward a number of amendments to the European Parliament and the Council. They reached agreement at the trilogue on ways to solve these problems, which ranged from the need for clarification of the text through to the need to stop EWCs being denied justice – a situation encountered by some EWCs who have been deprived of the right to take legal action to uphold their consultation rights. The 2009 directive is only being amended in respect of a number of points that called for revision – it’s hardly a revolution! The time has now come to settle this issue without any further delays to the process, which has already lasted far too long. We need changes to the text that will ensure a more effective application of the law, respect both for workers’ rights and for employers, legal certainty and a guarantee of fair competition between businesses. The aim is to ensure that EWCs can operate more effectively, by bringing an end to situations where they are neither kept informed nor consulted in a timely manner, and thereby enable them to make their key contribution to maintaining employment and participating fully in a sustainable economy in Europe, going forward.
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