Detacheringsrichtlijn biedt lidstaat vrijheid en levert bijdrage aan eerlijke concurrentie (en)

The main achievement of today’s Council of Employment, Social policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) is the agreement on the Posting of Workers Directive, the enforcement of which will ensure freedom to provide services across borders and better social protection of posted workers in the EU.

According to the Chair of the Council, Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania Algimanta Pabedinskienė, this directive will allow Member States to facilitate freedom to provide services, will contribute to fair competition between service providers and establish better standards for social security of posted workers.

“I am particularly glad that today in the Council we reached this landmark agreement on the implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive by succeeding to strike the right balance between facilitating the exercise of economic freedoms and protecting workers’ rights. This is beneficial to all Member States, regardless of whether a Member State is a “country of origin” or a “host country” for posted workers. Enforcement of this directive will bring more legal certainty and transparency and contribute to functioning of EU Single market’, - said the Chair of the Council.

In the nearest future the Lithuanian Presidency will start negotiations with the European Parliament, which will be continued by Greece, seeking the first reading agreement.

Posting is key in such sectors as construction, agriculture and transport, as well as in service activities, that require specialized, highly-skilled workforce, such as the IT sector.

The Council today also approved the scoreboard of employment and social indices for the 2014 European Semester Management Cycle. It was presented to the Council for the first time, with the aim to contribute to the strengthening of the Union’s social dimension and helping to better observe social and labour market situation in the countries participating in the European economic and Monetary Union. The December European Council will have to formally endorse the scoreboard.

The EU Ministers of Employment and Social Security also discussed how to improve cooperation between public employment services, and adopted a General approach on the Decision on Enhanced Co-operation between Public Employment Services (PES).

“This is another important step towards achieving a common goal - restoring well-functioning labour markets which would ensure the necessary employment opportunities”, - said the Chair of the Council, stressing the important role of public employment services in helping to achieve the objectives of the strategy „Europe 2020“and to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis on employment.

Today the Ministers endorsed the Council Conclusions initiated by the Lithuanian Presidency on the Effectiveness of Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality, and also the Council Recommendation on Effective Roma Integration Measures in the EU Member States.

According to the Chair, the Council Recommendation sends a strong political signal about the willingness of the EU Member States to seriously tackle Roma integration to improve situation of Roma communities.

The Lithuanian Presidency informed the Council about the progress achieved in the on-going legislative dossiers: Improvingof the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges; Implementing of the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation; the ongoing trilogue negotiations on free movement of workers directive; the successfully concluded negotiations with the European Parliament on supplementary pension rights directive and the update of five EU Directives related to requirements for health and safety of workers.