In an EU that gravitates to the right, the green agenda, migrants and labor rights are victims of the offensive of the economic powers and the extreme right. And in this panorama, Spain is one of the few progressive governments that resists. The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, will fight a new fight this Monday when trying to block the attempt by the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU to water down the practices directive with which the European Commission intends, among other things, put a stop to false scholarship holders.
Spain is seeking support within the other 26 member states to try to stop the aspirations of Viktor Orbán’s far-right government, according to government sources. The initial idea of the European Commission with the internship directive was to establish legal minimum protection for interns by limiting this type of employment relationship to temporary learning and training, for example. It also proposed a series of abusive practices, such as the requirement of previous work experience for applicants for internship processes or responsibilities and tasks similar to those hired regularly.
The proposal made by the Hungarian presidency in order to establish the negotiating position of the Council of the EU (European governments) with the European Parliament means watering down the essence of the directive. Its intention is to limit the scope of application of the law to people with internship contracts, but leaving out those that are part of the study plans, that is, without providing coverage to thousands of scholarship recipients who are in training.
Nor would it include internships carried out within the framework of active employment policies or those necessary to obtain a specific qualification. It also reduces the ambition regarding stopping false interns by eliminating the obligation to publish working conditions and eliminates references to the acquis communautaire (the set of laws that make up EU Law).
“In the next Employment Council we will address in depth, from the Government of Spain, a package of practices to finally guarantee the rights of scholarship holders. And the Government of Spain is going to take a step forward so that the initial position of the European Commission does not go backwards in rights,” Díaz warned in mid-November during the closing of the First International Labor Congress in which he assured that Spain was going to “leave the skin” on that matter.
The vice president’s intention is to add the necessary support from other governments to establish a blocking minority in the Employment Council that is being held in Brussels this Monday to overthrow the Hungarian proposal. What the Spanish Government wants to guarantee is that training is highlighted within internship periods to “ensure that quality training is provided,” according to sources from Díaz’s department.
Furthermore, Spain’s aspiration is that the Council’s orientation maintains the soul of the initial proposal of the European Commission in the face of the negotiation that will have to begin with the European Parliament to “prevent traineeship periods from being used to replace workers.” through clear regulation, which also allows labor inspections to act in this area,” the same sources point out.
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