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The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights has been considerably amended since we reported on its progress in issue 11 of the European Review. Notice seems to have been taken of criticisms made by various groups and the Biarritz informal meeting of the Council of Ministers in October approved the latest draft. Now the final hurdle will be crossed at the Nice summit in December when the charter is due for adoption. The European Women's Lobby (EWL) had expressed displeasure with both the first draft and the first amended one. Both sexist language and a failure to 'introduce the concept of gender equality as a basic unconditional and fundamental principle of the Union' attracted disapproval. However, after further emendation, the Biarritz version was characterised by 'the recognition of the principle of equality between women and men in all areas (article 23) and the use of a gender neutral wording in all linguistic versions'. On the negative side the Lobby maintains that 'a full gender dimension is still missing in the Charter'. Solidar, an organisation of trade unions and social democratic parties stated, 'this is just the kind of Europe people want'.
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Roman Herzog, President of the Convention which drew up the Charter |
Susan Anderson, human resources policy director of the C.B.I. |
For their part the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) takes a far more positive attitude to the revised version of the charter as compared to the previous ones. Thanks to its campaign against the earlier limitations the ETUC says, 'an important step in advancing a social and citizens' Europe' has been made. However, many of the organisation's remaining criticisms revolve around the status of the charter. The ETUC's ' strategic objective remains a fully-fledged and legally binding Charter, enshrined in the EU Treaty'. This was the one point which the Member States could not agree on at Biarritz. Prominent among those who wanted a 'declaratory' status only for the new charter was the U.K. government who argued against its incorporation in to the EU treaty. In this it was backed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) whose director of human resources policy, Susan Anderson, said in a statement: 'the government has fought hard for business and come up with a result we can live with'. It was also pleased with final changes that watered down the right 'at all levels' to take strike action, which the CBI said '[raised] the possibility of cross-border industrial action'. Not surprisingly this change did not find favour with the ETUC who regretted 'the apparent shortcomings when it comes to respecting the right for trade unions to act without the limitations of national borders'. The TUC has supported the inclusion of 'clear and enforceable social and trade union rights' in the Charter, for incorporation into the EU treaties.
The status of the charter seems as if it will become a major topic for discussion for the Nice summit. The European Commission issued a communication which stated its view that 'irrespective of the ultimate nature of the Charter, the Commission is convinced that the draft offers genuine value added'. However it seemed to come down on the side of eventual incorporation, adding 'The Charter has been drafted "as if" it were to be incorporated in the Treaties' and 'the Commission considers that it will sooner or later have to be incorporated in the Treaties'.
THE STRATEGY OF CREATING jobs by reducing working time, which has been followed in France recently seems to be catching on in Belgium. As we reported in our last issue, the Minister of Employment and Labour, Laurette Onkelinx, announced a plan in May, to modernise 'work organisation and working time'. Now she has presented a position paper to be discussed by both sides of industry as well as the government.
The paper envisages that the social partners will negotiate a 38 hour week and that the government will then give individual employers incentives to further reduce it. Any firm reducing working hours would have their social charges (similar to National Insurance) reduced by between €99 and €793 per employee. Another part of the proposals aims to get more of the 50 to 64 age group into work. Measures will attempt to increase job security for the over 45s, encourage them to take up training, enable employers to adapt working hours and conditions for the over 50s and to reduce the impact of early retirement schemes.
The response to the position paper has split along union/employer lines. The CSC and FGTB unions have both backed the plan but the employers' federation, the FEB, expressed incredulity saying that it was starting negotiation with the score already at 2-0 to the unions.
THE COUNCIL OF EMPLOYMENT ministers recently agreed the second plank of the anti-discrimination platform which we reported on in the last issue of European Review. Following the racial discrimination directive, which was passed in July, the ministers from the Member States approved the proposed directive on workplace discrimination which covers grounds of age, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief. The directive defines the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination and establishes a minimum framework by means of which discrimination may be made illegal. The scope of the new law will include recruitment and selection, access to training, conditions of employment, pay and dismissals, and membership of employers' and workers' organisations.
The European Parliament earlier debated the new measure and made several amendments such as extending it to voluntary work, health and safety, information and consultation as well as creating certain exceptions if justified by the work involved e.g. working for a religious organisation. It also said that 'reasonable adjustment' should be made by employers for disabled people. The Council of Employment agreed to these amendments in principle but will decide the definitive text of the directive and formally adopt it at a later meeting.
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