EU countries adopted the platform work directive at a meeting of labour ministers on Monday (11 March), after Estonia and Greece, which had abstained in the past, voted in favour “in the spirit of compromise.”
The change of stance by the two countries allowed the document, aimed at regulating the growing free-wage economy and granting employment rights to several million workers in the EU, to proceed. Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Nicolas Schmit stated:
This is a momentous day for gig workers.
Now, the directive is to be formally ratified by the plenary session of the Council and the European Parliament. Countries will then have two years to integrate the legislation into their national systems.
Along with France and Germany, Estonia and Greece twice abstained at separate meetings of EU ambassadors last month, forming a blocking minority and citing uncertainty and contradictions with their own national labour laws.
However, both countries changed their votes at the very last moment “in the spirit of compromise,” paving the way for final adoption of the directive. Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne declared:
Thank you for the last-minute surprises.
The platform work directive is the first-ever EU proposal to regulate the free-money economy across the bloc, but it has quickly become one of the EU’s most controversial files. Negotiators from the European Commission, European Parliament and EU Council agreed a watered-down version of the directive in early February, which member states voted down twice in the past month as Paris, Tallinn, Athens, and Berlin opposed it.
On Monday, Germany abstained due to infighting within its coalition. Meanwhile, France stated that it would withhold its vote until the Commission provided further legal clarification.
The adopted document also contains a chapter on algorithmic management in the workplace, which enshrines a complete ban on the processing of certain data sets, including psychological state, religious and gender identity, as well as private conversations or any information outside a person’s platform work activity.
