AFP, Warsaw :
Three Baltic states vowed on Tuesday to join forces with four other eastern EU states in seeking a compromise on tough proposals by France to overhaul a controversial EU rule on cheap labour, especially regarding the transport sector.
“We will not agree to the introduction of rules that would in practise eliminate transport companies from the countries of our region from the EU’s common market,” Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told reporters in Warsaw alongside her Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts and a senior Estonian diplomat.
“We are counting on being able to reach a compromise, thanks to the involvement of the Estonian EU presidency, that takes into account the interests of entrepreneurs from our region,” Szydlo added.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis echoed Szydlo, insisting that “the rules of the Posted Workers Directive, and any future limitations, cannot apply to the transport sector”.
“We will not agree to one-sided initiatives or proposals on the transport sector,” he added.
Signalling that steps toward a compromise may already be in the offing, Poland’s Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said later Tuesday that France had invited Polish Labour Minister Elzbieta Rafalska for consultations on the posted workers directive.
“It’s our duty as diplomats to seek a compromise,” he said, quoted by the Polish PAP news agency.
French President Emmanuel Macron made overhauling the so-called Posted Workers Directive one of his key election promises and is set to push for it at an EU summit on October 19-20.
The regulation lets firms send workers from low-wage countries to wealthier economies on short-term assignments without paying their hosts’ social charges.
The rule has caused resentment in western countries like France, Germany and Austria, which argue it amounts to “social dumping” and creates unfair competition on national labour markets.
But there has been staunch resistance in eastern and central Europe, where most of the cheap labour comes from.
Three Baltic states vowed on Tuesday to join forces with four other eastern EU states in seeking a compromise on tough proposals by France to overhaul a controversial EU rule on cheap labour, especially regarding the transport sector.
“We will not agree to the introduction of rules that would in practise eliminate transport companies from the countries of our region from the EU’s common market,” Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told reporters in Warsaw alongside her Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts and a senior Estonian diplomat.
“We are counting on being able to reach a compromise, thanks to the involvement of the Estonian EU presidency, that takes into account the interests of entrepreneurs from our region,” Szydlo added.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis echoed Szydlo, insisting that “the rules of the Posted Workers Directive, and any future limitations, cannot apply to the transport sector”.
“We will not agree to one-sided initiatives or proposals on the transport sector,” he added.
Signalling that steps toward a compromise may already be in the offing, Poland’s Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said later Tuesday that France had invited Polish Labour Minister Elzbieta Rafalska for consultations on the posted workers directive.
“It’s our duty as diplomats to seek a compromise,” he said, quoted by the Polish PAP news agency.
French President Emmanuel Macron made overhauling the so-called Posted Workers Directive one of his key election promises and is set to push for it at an EU summit on October 19-20.
The regulation lets firms send workers from low-wage countries to wealthier economies on short-term assignments without paying their hosts’ social charges.
The rule has caused resentment in western countries like France, Germany and Austria, which argue it amounts to “social dumping” and creates unfair competition on national labour markets.
But there has been staunch resistance in eastern and central Europe, where most of the cheap labour comes from.
