Workers Establishment And Services In The European Union

The free movement of persons and services are key elements, alongside the free movement of goods and capital, in the fundamental freedoms which underpin the European internal market. In recent years two key themes have emerged from the case law of the European Court of Justice. The first is convergence in the case law on the free movement of goods, persons, and services in order to ensure the operation of the internal market through the prohibition of discrimination and the outlawing of unjustified obstacles to free movement. The second is the case law on the rights which flow from the introduction of citizenship of the European Union, which offer constitutional rights for individuals. The tensions between these two lines of authority can be explained through a fresh approach to the analysis and synthesis of the Treaty rules and secondary legislation of the European Community, and of the case law of the European Court of Justice on free movement of persons and services. This approach is based on distinguishing between those rules which relate mainly to the regulation of business activities in the internal market, and those which are mainly concerned with individual rights for citizens of the European Union. The result is a detailed overview of the law relating to workers, establishment, and services in the EU in this modern context.

in this book nineteen labour law scholars present country reports detailing challenges and consequences of the rulings evident in twelve EU Member States, as well as in Norway and Russia. Among many others, the salient issues covered include the following: cross-border solidarity among workers; collective action as a fundamental freedom; the prospects for an EU minimum wage plan; the 'social partners' approach to national labour law; the harmonisation of social security standards; and the scope of enforcement by Member State labour regulatory authorities.

European Social Law at a glance The present book sets out – in a concise manner – the social law of the European Union. Apart from core areas of European labour law, the regulation of which is based on the EU’s competence in social policy, it covers notably the numerous rights based one the free movement of workers and other EU citizens, as well as the coordination of social security. Beyond that, the book refers to other fields of EU regulation which are prone to cause conflicts between the member states’ national social law and the relevant EU norms, which remain challenging to resolve to this day. Extensive reference is made to the case law of the European Court of Justice, which continues to have a paramount role in shaping the social law of the EU as it stands. The book is primarily aimed at students confronted with European social law for the first time. Besides, it should constitute a well-structured source of reference for law practitioners in the rising number of cases where EU law is of relevance for national legal practice.

Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations Volume 108 The progressive expansion of the phenomenon of posting of workers – the practice whereby a worker is sent for a limited period of time to another Member State in order to provide a service – is a formidable bone of contention in the conflict between a fully integrated internal market economy and Member States’ aims to protect domestic social standards. This book challenges the recently adopted Directive (EU) 957/2018, which came into effect in July 2020, by examining the relevant EU regulatory framework and investigating the actual quantitative dimension of the posting phenomenon and its real impact on the EU labour market. In the process, the author exposes a serious misalignment of the legal framework provided for by the new Directive with the EU values and principles of equality, solidarity and fair competition. Drawing on a wide variety of sources – including Court of Justice case law, Advocate Generals’ opinions, Eurostat data, Commission documents and reports, and academic literature – the author provides in-depth analyses of such elements of the problem as the following: proper definition of the concepts of ‘posting’ and ‘posted worker’ in EU law; host country’s discretion in relation to the part of domestic regulation it can impose on posted employees; misconceived clash between social rights and economic freedoms; coordination of national social security systems; proliferation of unlawful and fraudulent practices; ‘regime shopping’ and exploitation of existing regulatory loopholes; misleading association of posting with issues of ‘social dumping’ and ‘unfair competition’; orientation of political influence during the drafting process of relevant EU legislation; expected controversial economic impact of Directive (EU) 957/2018; concrete realisation of the EU values and principles of equality, solidarity and fair competition; and definition and pursuit of a ‘European social model’. Normative arguments developed in the course of the analysis put forward viable recommendations for future improvements in the field. The Union’s commitment to the development of a ‘European social model’ cannot avoid taking into account the matters of equality, solidarity and fair competition. In this sense, given the increasing prominence of the free movement of services in shaping a European labour market characterised by an ever-growing degree of mobility, this book’s analysis of the phenomenon of posting of workers may serve as a litmus test of political and legislative action at EU level. In its dual analytic and normative aspect, the book takes a giant step towards future discussions and developments in the area of intra-EU labour mobility. It will be welcomed by legal practitioners in labour and social security law and industrial relations, legal scholars, EU institutions and agencies, businesses and trade unions.

This unique book offers a comprehensive systematization and overview of the EU´s emerging ‘acquis’ and practice of Collective Labour Law. Although the core aspects of Collective Labour Law lie outside the EU’s competence to regulate, the laws and industrial relations systems of Member States are undoubtedly influenced by the EU, and the involvement of Social Partners, i.e. representatives of employers and workers, is essential for many aspects of EU law and policy.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is the most developed and comprehensive legally binding human rights instrument in the social field of the European Union. It is becoming increasingly important and is the first instrument that includes both civil and political rights on one hand and social rights on the other. Despite this, the Court of Justice of the European Union has only rarely dealt with fundamental social rights. In this context, employment rights need to be examined in this new rights framework. Following on from previous volumes setting out links between European labour law and fundamental social rights (as enshrined in relevant UN, ILO and Council of Europe instruments), in this book the ETUI Transnational Trade Union Rights (TTUR) Expert Network examines the justiciability of social rights and critically analyses the effectiveness of those rights embodied in the EU Charter. Thus, this book completes the trilogy of ETUI TTUR books on fundamental social rights at European level following the publication, also by Hart Publishing, of The European Convention of Human Rights and the Employment Relation (2013) and The European Social Charter and the Employment Relation (2017).

The EU has limited legislative competence in the field of social law. However, the Member States are increasingly modernizing social services and social (welfare) protection, attempting to make social services more efficient by increasingly looking to the market for the provision of such services. This policy move brings social services into the radar of EU law. The EU response to this sensitive issue has resulted in a piecemeal and fragmented approach towards the treatment of a new policy area of Social Services of General Interest (SSGI) in EU law and policy. This book is a first contribution towards charting how SSGI have emerged as a special category of SGI in the EU, the reaction of the Member States and stake-holders and how policy is being made through new governance processes, carve-outs and safe havens in legislation and soft law, especially in the light of the new values of the EU introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon 2009. It takes an inter-disciplinary approach and will be of interest to lawyers, economists and political scientists who are interested in EU policy-making as well as practioners, EU and national policy-makers. Ulla Neergaard is Professor of EU law at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Erika Szyszczak is a Jean Monnet Professor of European Law ad personam, Professor of European Competition and Labour Law at the University of Leicester, Barrister, Littleton Chambers, UK. Johan W. van de Gronden is Professor of European Law at the Radboud University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Markus Krajewski is Professor of Public and International law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.