"Posting of workers- good law with benefits for workers and undertakings" - a report from one of the meetings from the series "With a view on Europe"

A meeting devoted to posting of workers within European Union and draft enforcement directive concerning this way of provision of services took place on February 17th in the House of Europe situated in Wroclaw. The special guest of this meeting was Danuta Jazłowiecka, MEP who partakes in the trilogue negotiations on the enforcement directive between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission which started in December 2013.

Participants gathered to discuss the European Union economy - one of the key elements of the information campaign prior to elections to the European Parliament, which in Poland are going to be conducted on May 25th. The event was organised by European Parliament Information Office in Wrocław and Regional Representation of the European Commission in Poland.
 
MEP Danuta Jazłowiecka explained basic rules governing the posting of workers in practice as outlined by Directive 96/71/EC and clarified that this form of mobility is part of the freedom to provide services within EU (and not freedom of movement as one may think). 
 
MEP presented the main elements of the draft enforcement directive, which key aim is to improve implementation of the 1996 posting of workers directive without changing its basic rules. Improved access to information, administrative cooperation between Member States and improved monitoring of the posting are some amongst the most important provisions of this directive. Danuta Jazłowiecka paid special attention to these articles which are of particular interest to polish enterprises and workers - especially: article 3 concerning identification of genuine posting and prevention of abuses and circumvention, article 9 regarding national control measures, and article 12 on joint and several liability. MEP presented the state of play of negotiations between the three EU institutions, also with respect to the above mentioned articles. She also drew attention to the jeopardy of the so called revision clause, being at the moment under discussion.
 
In MEP's opinion, the enforcement directive should protect posted workers' right on one hand while maintaining the freedom to provide services on the other. Improved access to information for workers as well as for undertakings will be another key matter facilitating the posting process. The enforcement directive should also improve cooperation between Member States but should not put unnecessary administrative burdens on companies, which could have a negative impact on mobility within the Internal Market and jobs creation.
 
Outcomes of trilogue negotiations will be particularly important to our country as Poland posts annually the biggest amount of workers accounting of approximately 230 thousands, among ca. 1 billion of all posted workers within the EU. The enforcement directive is planned to be adopted by the European Parliament during the Plenary Session in April.