The second vice president and minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Diazachieved this Monday the support of eight countries of the European Union to stop the proposal presented by the Hungarian Presidency on the future directive that will regulate internship periods in the ‘twenty-seven’.
In this way, nine States rejected the text in its current terms: Spain, Germany, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Cyprus. In the first Council of EU Employment Ministers with the new European Commission, Díaz assured that the general orientation of the directive does not comply with European legislative standards. “In fact, go back. How are we going to allow our young people to be used as cheap labor by hiding it under the label of training?” he asked. Diaz upon arriving at the Council.
«We have managed to convince other partners and block a draft that would mean precariousness for an entire generation. “Here is our clear message: we are not going to compromise with the labor rights of youth,” declared the minister after having achieved the support of the aforementioned eight countries.
The proposal of the Hungarian presidency restricts the scope of application excluding practices that are part of the formal education and vocational training curricula or those carried out within the framework of active employment policies, among others.
Furthermore, it opens the door to discriminate against interns establishing justifications for different treatment of interns, makes it difficult to combat false practices or avoids the usual references to the community acquis that guarantee the full application of labor regulations, among others.
Differences with national legislation
«Spain cannot give its support to regulations that do not advance labor rights. And we will not do it until we have a text that truly protects workers, in direct application of the Social Pillar,” the minister stated before her counterparts at the EPSCO.
The vice president has defended a directive that provides labor rights to intern workers and that gives relevance to training within internship periods. «It is essential to prevent internship periods can be used to replace company workers», stated the vice president.
Spanish regulations guarantee the rights of people in labor practices and clearly distinguish training activities from productive and labor activities. «With our labor reform, we protect people with training contracts. Now we go further: we will take to Congress a project that will guarantee the rights of internsending their exploitation, after reaching an agreement with the unions of our country,” he explained.
In the debate on future priorities in employment and social policies, which is also addressed in the Council of Ministers, the vice president defends the need to place Social Europe at the center of the project European Union by adopting specific measures and appropriate legislation with the aim of guaranteeing decent living and working conditions that allow progress in a fair digital and ecological transition.
In the opinion of the vice president, the policies of the new Europe must focus not only on the economy and in that sense he points out that measuring economic success without paying attention to inequalities can have catastrophic consequences for the European project. “For this reason, we will continue to strive to expand and codify the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights,” he added.
On the sidelines of the Council, Vice President Díaz meets this Monday in Brussels with the new Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparation, the Romanian Roxana Mînzatuwith whom he will talk about the internship directive and the legislative priorities facing the future European legislature, such as the regulation of workers’ rights in relation to the use of artificial intelligence at work or the right to training at work , among other matters.
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