Harmonise EU labour laws, say citizens

Reflecting on the consultations, which took place throughout 2009, Stefan Schäfers, European programme advisor at the King Baudouin Foundation, said their overall goal is to ensure that "in the future, Europeans are much more involved in decision-making processes at European level than has been the case in recent years". 

"The gap between citizens and the EU is well known," he argued, adding that "we need to find ways to bring the 'original voice' of the citizens into the Union's political processes". 

"This project is complementary to the traditional stakeholder participation processes on the European level. It is very important to make new voices heard in the EU," he concluded.

He went on to note that by "adding new elements such as an online debate involving the general public and regional conferences with stakeholders from all member states, the European citizens' consultation succeeded in achieving substantial attention from both policymakers and the media". 

German Green MEP Elisabeth Schroedter, vice-chairwoman of the European Parliament's employment and social affairs committee, argued that "we want to have equal labour rights - but not on a low level. We want them on a high level". 

While she advocated for a "strong improvement of the EU labour code, including the rights of social partners," she cautioned that there are currently "great difficulties" in achieving this goal, primarily due to the veto power of member states – highlighting the failure to reach a deal on the controversial working time as an example. Nonetheless, she highlighted "basic minimum standards for labour rights" as an achievable target for the coming years. 

Marie Bilkova, chief advisor to the Czech Deputy Minister of Finance, claimed that harmonised EU employment rules, while desirable, would not happen overnight by "means of one resolution or one act". 

"Amending labour rights and working conditions is tightly linked to other systems, such as fiscal policy, health insurance, pensions and many other aspects," she said, adding that "if EU member states don't find an agreement to harmonise these systems, we can't expect to harmonise the working conditions". 

Harmonised labour rights will emerge by way of evolution as opposed to policy decisions, she concluded. 

Bernd Hüttemann, secretary-general of European Movement Germany, claimed that the lack of EU focus on social policy had led to some of its member organisations being against Lisbon Treaty. For example, he noted, the German trade union Verdi, which is one of the biggest trade unions in the world, was against the treaty because it lacked a social dimension. 

Vanda Pecjak, vice-president of the Slovenian Employers’ Association, argued that while "concrete labour market rules should remain the responsibility of each EU member state," a "strong-handed" European Commission should ensure that all member states accept the need for minimum standards. 

Dirk Bergrath from the German Metalworkers' Union argued that "the EU should be more than a kind of 'super free trade area'". 

He added that "people do want equal labour standards," and the EU should issue clear signals that "fundamental social rights are superior to the other freedoms, especially the mobility of goods and capital". 

"The next step is to implement minimum standards on the European Level," he concluded.