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Tag: posted workers

  • European regulations on posted workers

    European regulations on posted workers

    The European
    Parliament has decided to start negotiations with member state governments on
    the posted workers directive, after on Monday the EU labour ministers reached
    an agreement on revising this piece of legislation. Talks may start in
    November, but the process is not likely to be easy. Things are moving in the
    right direction, but the devil is in the details, noted Elisabeth
    Morin-Chartier and Agnes Jongerius, the two EU Parliament’s rapporteurs on the
    file.




    A posted worker
    is an employee temporarily tasked by their employer to provide services in
    another EU member state. In 2015 there were nearly 2 million seconded workers,
    particularly in sectors like constructions, education, healthcare, social
    services and business services. Under the 1996 Directive, companies could send
    their employees to work abroad for a specific period, and pay the same social
    contribution amounts as they did in their home countries. The eastward
    enlargement of the Union has enabled companies in the region to take massive
    advantage of these rules.




    The reform of
    posting regulations is aimed at better protecting workers from salary and
    social dumping. To this end, the member states agreed on Monday, postings
    should be limited to 12 months, with 6-month extensions permitted in
    exceptional cases only. The road transport sector is the only one exempt from
    the new provisions until a new law is endorsed specifically for this sector.




    The labour
    ministers of Poland and Hungary have voted against the deal, and so have Latvia
    and Lithuania, while Britain, Ireland and Croatia abstained. Romania, which has
    a lot of workers posted abroad, has voted in favour of the proposed reform.
    According to many commentators, it was just a matter of time until the strong
    western economies moved against what they see as a trick helping some employers
    to exploit the workforce from the former communist bloc. More specifically,
    some companies hire workers from the eastern EU member countries, pay them the
    minimum wages valid in their home country, throw in something extra to cover
    the expenses abroad, and post them.




    Other
    commentators, however, see the recent decision of the EU labour ministers as a
    battle that Romania stands to lose from. They claim Romania’s position on the
    matter is in fact a compromise with France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron,
    is the one who insisted that current rules should be changed. In fact, many
    French and other western workers often complain that easterners take their jobs
    away, and several West-European leaders want posted workers to be paid the same
    salaries as the local employees.

  • October 24, 2017

    October 24, 2017

    KING MIHAI I – King Mihai I of Romania turns 96 on Wednesday, and will have a private birthday celebration at his residence in Switzerland, the website romaniaregală.ro reports. On behalf of Romanias former sovereign, Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown, will decorate Romanian and foreign personalities and collaborators of the Romanian Royal House, in a ceremony in Bucharest. On Wednesday evening the Romanian Athenaeum will host the 10th annual concert organised by the charity Princess Margareta of Romania. King Mihai I is suffering from two severe forms of cancer, and last spring he withdrew from public life. In 1947, only 7 years after taking the throne, Mihai I was forced by the communist regime to abdicate and to leave the country. He was only able to return to Romania after the 1989 anti-communist Revolution, and he regained his Romanian citizenship and some of his estate. King Mihai I lobbied for Romanias NATO and EU accession, as a special ambassador.




    DIPLOMACY – The Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Melescanu, was received on Monday in Jerusalem by the Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin. The two officials highlighted the excellent bilateral cooperation, consolidated during the 69 years of constant diplomatic relations. The talks focused on diversifying economic and sectoral cooperation, ahead of resuming the third session of Romanian-Israeli inter-governmental talks. Another important topic had to do with fighting anti-Semitism and promoting education in this respect. The agenda also included an exchange of opinions on topical international matters, such as the Middle East peace process, the crisis in Syria, Iraq and the Gulf region, and the prospects of the Iran nuclear deal. As part of his visit to Israel, FM Teodor Melescanu also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.




    CONFERENCE – The Romanian capital city Bucharest is hosting today and tomorrow the IAA Global Conference, an international technology, marketing and communication forum. The event brings to Bucharest some of the worlds greatest entrepreneurs and inventors, including Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder alongside with Steve Jobs and the inventor of the first personal computer in the world. Also addressing the hundreds of participants will be speakers from IBM, the Disney studios, Google and the BBC. This years conference is themed Creativity can change the world.




    TOURISM – Around 100 Romanian and foreign journalists, bloggers, vloggers, and instagramers are visiting these days places in Romania that are worth seeing but are not properly promoted, as part of Experience România, the largest Romanian tourism promotion project. The guests come from nearly 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, India, the US, Germany, Italy and Spain. A similar project, run in spring and promoting the capital city Bucharest was followed by millions online and attracted tourists from far away places like Alaska, Argentina and Japan.




    EU – The EU labour ministers reached an agreement in Luxembourg on Monday night on a proposed reform of the posted workers directive. The participants agreed to limit secondments to 12 months, as France had proposed, but to allow for a six-month extension at the request of the company that posts workers. France also had to accept a compromise with respect to the status of workers in the road transport sector, a particularly delicate point in that Spain and Portugal, as well as the Visegrad Group countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), were concerned with the negative impact of the reform on their truck drivers.




    TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no 1 in the world, is playing on Wednesday against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (6 WTA), in the second Red Group match of the WTA Finals in Singapore. In the other match of the day, the French Caroline Garcia (9 WTA) will face the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (4 WTA). On Monday, Halep beat Garcia, and Wozniacki defeated Svitolina. In the White Group today, the American Venus Williams (5 WTA), the only WTA Finals winner of this years participants, is playing against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (7 WTA), while Garbine Muguruza of Spain (2 WTA) takes on the Czech Karolina Pliskova (3 WTA). On Sunday, Muguruza defeated Ostapenko and Pliskova won the match against Williams.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • From European funding to posted workers

    From European funding to posted workers

    The absorption of
    European funds was the main topic of discussion between the Romanian
    representative in the European Commission Corina Cretu, who is holding the
    Regional Policy portfolio, and the
    President of the European Committee of the Regions Karl-Heinz Lambertz. After
    meeting with the Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu
    Tariceanu and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea, the
    European official stated that Romania stands big chances of having absorbed, by
    the end of the year, one billion Euros from the development and cohesion funds.




    Against this background, the European Commissioner
    held talks with Bucharest officials on the steps that should be taken in order
    to ensure a better absorption of European funds, given that Romania has not
    been able to do much in this respect after its 2007 EU accession. At the same
    time, Corina Cretu warned about the slow pace of project preparation and
    implementation, in particular in fields such as transportation, waste
    management, public procurement and research infrastructure. European
    Commissioner Corina Cretu:




    All national management and control authorities in
    charge of the 23 billion Euro budget allocated to Romania in the 2014-2020
    programming period have been accredited. This summer, the Commission has
    already reimbursed 95 million for initiatives, for SMEs and for technical
    assistance, and is currently analysing invoices of 350 million Euros, which are
    to be paid soon.




    Also, Corina Cretu
    held talks with citizens, accompanied by the President of the European
    Committee of the Regions Karl-Heinz Lambertz. Mr. Lambertz referred to worker
    mobility in the EU and said that a solution must be found to the issue of
    unemployment, which is currently facing many countries in Europe. Karl-Heinz
    Lambertz openly stood in favour of amending the Directive concerning posting,
    which allows workers to work in a different EU country, sometimes in conditions
    that are improper. Mr. Lambertz has also stated that, in his opinion, a massive
    transfer of workers from one country to another is not necessarily the best
    solution for cohesion.


    As regards posting, during the recent visit paid to
    Bucharest by the President of France Emmanuel Macron, Romania’s President Klaus
    Iohannis also stood for a change in the directive. The head of state said there
    should be a tighter and more integrated cooperation between all the social
    systems of all the EU countries.