We are deeply disappointed by the Council’s inability to reach a qualified majority on the Platform work directive today.
The final approval of the directive, which was designed to improve the working conditions of more than 28 million gig-workers in the European Union was further delayed by today’s council hesitation, perhaps to the upcoming Belgium presidency.
This comes as a big disappointment after the trialogue agreement reached last week all the efforts of the Spanish presidency and the full support of the PES family.
European Socialists and Democrats have been working hard to improve the working conditions of platform workers (Uber, Deliveroo, etc.).The directive has been a priority during the current mandate, and we managed to advance on it a lot thanks to Commissioner Nicholas Schmit who presented an ambitious directive, the efforts of the S&D group, and the rapporteur Elisabetta Gualmini adopting a position to strengthen the text in 2022, despite strong opposition from EPP, part of Renew, ECR.
Finally, the progressive government of Spain and the Spanish presidency managed to find an agreement between the Council and Parliament in trialogues a week ago.
However, Member States could not agree on the new text. This comes as a failed opportunity to show that the EU can invent the social protection that goes with the new forms of work. The battle is not over, and we will remain committed to pushing this directive through to its full adoption under the Belgian presidency.
