Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment defended the proposal to reform the 1996 Posted Workers Directive which regulates individuals employed in one member state but sent to work temporarily in another. She did so at the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), which is held in Slovakia. In March, the European Commission proposed a revision of the rules on the posting of workers within the EU on the principle that the same work at the same place should be remunerated in the same manner. The national parliaments of 11 member states - Slovakia included - submitted reasoned opinions expressing concerns about the revision of the directive. One of the most frequent objections of the national parliaments with regard to the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive is that this issue doesn't have to be addressed at the EU level; rather it can best be handled at the national level. Another reason for the discontent of some national parliaments is that the revised directive will violate the power of member states to determine the salary ranges and manage employment relations.
The European Commission argues that the posting of workers has a cross-border theme, as the rights and obligations apply for countries on both sides of the border. According to Commissioner Thyssen, cited by the Slovak press agency TASR, achieving the same conditions for service providers and ensuring adequate protection of posted workers can't be effectively achieved by actions at the national level alone. If member states acted unilaterally, it would lead to fragmentation of the internal market for services. She added that the rules on remuneration and the organisation of employment relationships are always the responsibility of member states. The proposal doesn't harmonise wages and wage setting systems. The revised directive only wants to ensure that binding rules on remuneration valid in a member state in which posted workers carry out their activities will apply to them as well as to domestic employees of the respective EU-member state.
