Spain blocks, together with eight different international locations, Orbán’s proposal for the scholarship directive | Economy | EUROtoday

Hungarian proposals for the EU employment practices directive have run aground within the EU Council. Hungary, the nation that presides over the Council this semester, had proposed to its companions modifications to the textual content launched by the Commission final March and these modifications had been met with rejection this Monday by Spain, Germany and 7 different member states on the assembly of Labor ministers in Brussels. “It is unprecedented that a directive that has to do with promoting labor rights and giving security to people who are in training processes undermines rights,” the Spanish vp, Yolanda Díaz, criticized the strategy of Viktor Orbán’s Executive, warning that their intention was to dam it together with different international locations.

In March this 12 months, the European Commission offered a directive and a letter with 10 suggestions to set a ground in EU rules on the work practices of trainees. The goal was to obviously set up what will not be an intern or what’s a false intern, advising, for instance, that these internship intervals don’t exceed six months. Now the 2 co-legislators (EU Council and European Parliament) have to ascertain their positions on the texts launched by the Community Executive after which negotiate the ultimate wording between them.

As Hungary is the nation that presides over the Council through the second half of 2024, it should current a compromise proposal that brings collectively, no less than, a certified majority of Member States (55% of nations that make up no less than 65% of the inhabitants ). Budapest didn’t obtain this this Monday, because it was met with votes towards or abstention from Spain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Cyprus. As it’s the final assembly of ministers earlier than the tip of the 12 months, 2024 will probably run out with out having the ability to attain a gathering level and the duty will move to Poland, which is able to take over from Hungary beginning in January.

The Hungarian proposal raises fairly just a few exceptions in the identical definition, similar to that the directive doesn’t apply to “vocational training relationships, apprenticeship contracts, internships carried out within the framework of formal education.” This, in response to the standards defined by Díaz earlier than beginning the assembly, signifies that “all training practices are excluded.” If it stays this manner, Galician politics has identified, “the directive itself indicates the ways to ensure that it is not applied.”

Although Labor, which intends to current its Intern Statute shortly, has managed to cease Hungary’s initiative, it have to be taken into consideration that the EU has few powers in labor issues and likewise that the good distinction in traditions in labor relations of every Member State makes it very tough to succeed in agreements that transcend a minimal ground that Spain normally already has assured in its nationwide laws. This was seen very clearly within the processing of the minimal wage directive: the Nordic international locations, with a protracted custom of regulating their labor relations by social dialogue, rejected a norm of this nature even when it had been minimums as a result of they feared that turned a downward goal; On the opposite hand, the japanese international locations with a lot much less safety believed that this may make their labor prices rather more costly. That is to say, past the political ideology of every Government, there are additionally nationwide traditions that tremendously situation the positions of the capitals.

And that is, in a approach, what was seen on this Monday’s vote. The japanese international locations, besides Bulgaria, have been alongside Hungary. Also the Nordics, who are likely to choose rules that don’t intrude with their labor relations mannequin. On the opposite hand, international locations in a special state of affairs, similar to Spain, Germany, Austria or Portugal, have rejected Budapest’s place.

The Spanish Minister of Labor already stopped a few years in the past the place raised by the Czech Republic, then on the head of the Council, on the digital platform staff’ directive. In the tip, it was not Prague that was in a position to put collectively the Council’s place, however quite Sweden and Spain ended up accepting it, underlining its crucial place. Paradoxically, it was the premise that the Spanish Government later had to make use of when it presided over the Council of the EU, within the second half of 2023, to barter the ultimate wording with the European Parliament.