Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-17-Speech-4-125"
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"Mr President, industrial change, which can be gradual or sudden, is driven by new technologies, worldwide competition or consumer preferences. It has economic implications and an impact on employment and social cohesion, but it also provides major new opportunities when anticipated, prepared for and managed.
As regards the national and/or local level of employee involvement, the Commission wishes to underline again the need for proper information and consultation of employees’ representatives before any redundancies are decided or implemented, as provided for in the collective redundancies directive and in other national provisions.
I wish to recall that it is, in principle, up to national courts to deal with possible violations of these rules, if and when they are brought before them by national representatives. However, even when existing rules or arrangements are formally respected this does not mean that management’s attitude is socially irreprehensible. In fact, the Commission has argued for some time now that the rules we have established are not sufficient to deal with the challenges of today. In a world characterised by permanent change and in the context of high levels of unemployment, the rules in force seem to us to be outdated as they do not allow or promote the key ideas behind our employment strategy and our approach to change, anticipation, risk prevention and employability. That is why in November 1998 the Commission presented a proposal for a directive on worker information and consultation which has since then received your strong support. We thank you for that.
Unfortunately, the other branch of the legislative power, the Council, has not yet – more than one year after the presentation of the proposal – begun working on it. I hope that this debate contributes to reminding Member States of the importance and urgent nature of this initiative.
We have recently heard from the Portuguese Presidency that a serious debate on this proposal will soon be launched.
The forthcoming French Presidency also seems willing to give this dossier the high priority it deserves. The Commission sincerely hopes that Parliament and the Council quickly finalise this important dossier which constitutes, in our view, the most effective answer to the concerns raised by cases such as the ones which brought us here today.
As for the transnational level of employee involvement there is some indication that at least in one case the companies may have breached transnational information and consultation agreements which they had concluded with their European workforce. They may have at least exploited some ambiguity in the legal and contractual framework in force. The Commission will contact the relevant national authorities to check this. In any case, I wish to say to those who believe that their rights in that respect were ignored that adequate means of enforcement and redress are available to them, notably through relevant national jurisdictional instances.
The Commission is aware of your request to proceed immediately with a revision of the European Works Council Directive. As recognised in the report, which we will adopt in the forthcoming weeks, we accept that the directive contains some loopholes. Nevertheless, as my colleague, Commissioner Diamantopoulou has already underlined on other occasions, when deciding whether or not to revise the directive immediately, different considerations must be taken into account.
First, any revision of the directive would have little immediate effect on existing agreements, unless the fundamental principle of respecting the autonomy of the negotiating parties no longer applies.
Secondly, an immediate revision would make things much more complicated as regards progress in respect of the other pending dossiers in this field like European company statutes and the national information and consultation proposal.
The successful outcome of these other dossiers could greatly facilitate the subsequent revision of the EWC Directive and even provide some degree of a solution to the problems identified above. That is why we tend to consider that it might be more appropriate in this context to proceed with the revision of the European Works Council Directive only after the conclusion of those two dossiers and following a more complete evaluation of the application of the directive.
The acceleration of technological progress and the increasing competitive pressure of globalising markets are pushing companies to rapidly adapt their production and company structures. Companies must be able to anticipate and identify at an early stage what they need to do to ensure the continuity of their activities. Sometimes this calls for mergers of activities.
Action is not limited to legislation. To encourage and support dialogue as the cornerstone of the successful adaptation to change the Commission is also developing the recommendations of the Lillehammer Report by preparing the setting up of a European observatory on industrial change. We are also developing another suggestion of that expert group, the Managing Change Report.
Let me finish by addressing some of the other concerns expressed in the draft resolution submitted to this House. As for the enforcement of the links between competition policy and social policy, let me remind you that there is a provision in the merger regulation which enables workers’ representatives to be heard by the Commission in the framework of the relevant procedure. Generally speaking, we recognise the need for proper consideration to be given in different instances to all aspects surrounding these kinds of operations, including their effects in terms of employment.
As an example of this I mention that public authorities, notably the Commission, have already taken measures through guidelines on national regional aid that came into force on 1 January this year so as to ensure that public funding remains associated with the recipients of regional aid and consequently with the jobs attached to the investment. To this end all regional aid is made conditional on the maintenance of the investment in question for a minimum period of five years. The same provision was included in the Structural Funds Regulation which means that it applies to all investments cofinanced by the structural funds.
Social cohesion and the interplay of policies at EU-level is the focus of the forthcoming Lisbon Summit. I know we will be coming back to these issues again in the future to see how we can best make sure our policies are adapted and reformed to underpin economic and social progress in Europe.
The Commission is acutely aware of this situation and of the need for people to feel basic security in difficult times of change. We are convinced that the cornerstone of successful adaptation to change is dialogue at all levels and with full and transparent information as its basis.
We have had in the recent past different experiences and approaches on how to deal with large-scale operations of corporate restructuring, often affecting the lives of large numbers of European people. In some cases these operations were prepared well in advance, fully involving workers’ representatives, with due care being taken to search for the least damaging solutions. Where necessary, workers likely to be affected were prepared through employability measures to face the challenge of sudden unemployment.
In other cases these operations were launched and implemented with less care and concern for those affected. On every occasion, and as recently as last October in this House, the Commission has highlighted the following basic positions. Firstly, decisions on corporate restructuring remain the prerogative as well as the responsibility of management. This means that, when contemplating actions likely to lead to serious social consequences, job losses for example, companies should always actively search for and choose the least negative and least damaging solution.
Secondly, when dismissals prove to be inevitable, the utmost must be done to reinforce the employability of those concerned. This requires anticipation, timely preparation and careful management of these processes.
Thirdly, nothing can justify the absence of timely, effective and comprehensive information and consultation of the workers’ and employees’ representatives before such operations are launched or publicly announced. Worker involvement is always, and particularly in the event of corporate restructuring, not only a basic right but a necessary precondition for the social acceptance of such operations. In the end it is also a decisive factor of their success, as no collectivity can survive and prosper without trust, dialogue, partnership and solidarity between its different components.
These basic ideas meet with a wide consensus in Europe. This is what intelligent restructuring is about. It is more and more rare to see companies embark on damaging restructuring operations ignoring these fundamental concerns, as unfortunately was sometimes the case in the past.
We have built a wide range of instruments which meet these concerns in recent years in the European Union. We have set minimum requirements at European level, which all Member States and all companies must observe when contemplating job losses, especially when they are massive, or preparing other decisions likely to affect workers. The collective redundancies and transfers of undertakings directive and the European works council directive constitute our legal framework, protecting the workers’ rights and ensuring fair standards in the field of information and consultation at national and transnational level respectively."@en1
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