POSTED WORKERS SPECIAL : DRAFT PARLIAMENT REPORT POINTS UP PRACTICAL PROBLEMS.

The bid to scrap Articles 24 and 25 of the draft Services Directive, which deal with contracting out workers to provide services outside their home country, has refuelled the debate on the need to update the Posted Workers Directive which dates from 1996. Despite remaining somewhat sceptical on the matter, the European Commission was due on 4 April to produce a report setting out guidelines. The European Parliament, on the other hand, is already hard at work: a scathing preparatory note on the application of the Directive has been given to MEPs and an own-initiative report will be ready in May.

COMMISSION STANDPOINT

"If these articles are to be scrapped, the Commission will be forced to revise the position of member states. Based on this analysis, the Commission should then take the necessary measures to ensure that member states conform both to European law and the European Court of Justice case-law", announced Vladimir pidla, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, back in February. The Commission is thus raising the issue of infringements which in recent years have only been used with utmost caution. On the other hand, a source close to the Commissioner revealed to Europolitics that amending the text of the Directive is not an option at the moment. The Commission is now drawing up a report of the existing situation which is likely to lead to two initiatives: "on the one hand, to draw up a guide to European Court of Justice case-law, and on the other to identify best practices in the process of improving administrative cooperation".

EP COMMITTEE POSITION

The Employment and Social Affairs Committee has been working on the subject. Elisabeth Schrodter (Greens, Germany) has been given the task of producing an own- initiative report, which is expected in May. In one of the initial meetings, on 25 January, experts invited from the unions (ETUC) and employers (UNICE, UEAPME) disagreed on two points: the basic text is good and should not be changed but there are "still too many grey areas in the Directive". Opinions however differed far more on the reforms that needed to be made. An opinion shared by certain MEPs.

"We possibly need to look at ways in which workers are posted, at least certain aspects", said Anne van Lancker (PES, Belgium), the Committee's rapporteur on the Services Directive. "For example, the Commission might propose that sectors, currently excluded might be included, such as the...