European private society must respect workers’ participation rights
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomes the report adopted today by the European Parliament on the European Private Company (SPE). The Commission’s proposal to create a company with limited liability at European level, an SPE, was full of shortcomings. The report of the European Parliament – adopted with a huge majority with 578 votes in favour – contains a number of important improvements, such as an obligation for an SPE to demonstrate a cross-border component, the creation of a European central register and an obligation to produce a solvency certificate.
The biggest fear was that the establishment of an SPE could give companies incentives to circumvent employees’ rights to participation. ‘The proposal of the Parliament aims to ensure that workers’ rights are not undermined. It is a step forward and an important improvement to the draft statute presented by the Commission’, says ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann. This solution respects workers’ rights that already exist both under Community law, notably the SE Directive, and in national legal traditions.
Mr Hoffmann urges the Council to stick to the compromise of the Parliament and to ensure that the European Private Company Statute must respect workers’ participation rights. At the same time, he called on the Commission to come up with an urgent proposal for the 14th Directive on cross-border transfer of registered seats, to eliminate another possible loophole for workers’ rights.
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