The Employment Committee voted yesterday with a large majority, including votes from the Popular Party, the Liberals, the Greens and the Nordic Left, in favour of nearly all the amendments of Ms Van Lancker.

A large majority deleted the provisions limiting the possibilities for Member States to monitor and enforce regulations with regard to cross border posting of workers, reversed the country of origin principle so that it would not apply unless a minimum level of harmonisation was achieved, and decided that the Directive should not apply to a range of sectors with universal or public service obligations. Most importantly, labour law and collective agreements were excluded from the scope of the directive.

Under the EP’s Hughes procedure the Employment Committee has the lead on employment related aspects of the Services Directive: Worker protection, Employment law, collective agreements and social security.

John Monks declared: “This is an important step in the right direction to prevent this directive giving incentives for social dumping and a downwards spiral on working conditions. The ETUC asks the European Parliament to confirm the direction of this vote both in the Internal Market Committee and in the Plenary. This is a major opportunity for the European Parliament to show that it listens to the worries of people, and working people in particular. Thanks for the excellent work!”