{"id":25883,"date":"2024-10-25T10:49:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/news\/eu-parliamentarians-questioned-prospective-eu-commissioners-on-public-procurement-and-collective-bargaining\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T11:28:51","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T09:28:51","slug":"eu-parliamentarians-questioned-prospective-eu-commissioners-on-public-procurement-and-collective-bargaining","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/news\/eu-parliamentarians-questioned-prospective-eu-commissioners-on-public-procurement-and-collective-bargaining\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commissioners-designate questioned by EU parliamentarians on public procurement and collective bargaining"},"content":{"rendered":"
Between 4 and 12 November, the European Parliament will host a series of hearings to grill EU Commissioners-designate on their legislative strategy. This moment is crucial for holding them to account for their economic and social positions. UNI Europa will focus on the hearings of Roxana M\u00eenzatu <\/strong>(Executive Vice-President-designate for People, Skills and Preparedness, Romania) and St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9<\/strong> (Executive Vice-President-designate for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, France). While the former would be tasked with portfolios related to social and employment policies, the latter would oversee the upcoming revision of the public procurement directives<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n Ahead of the hearings, European Parliament committees submitted written questions to the Commissioners-designate. UNI<\/strong> Europa campaigned successfully to have the candidates questioned on two of our priorities: EU public procurement and collective bargaining.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n This comes after essential workers from nine European countries rallied in Brussels on 1 October<\/a><\/strong>, demanding that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen act to improve pay and conditions for millions of workers through procurement reform.<\/p>\r\n Both the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs\u2019 (EMPL) questions to St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9 focused on the revision of the public procurement directives:<\/p>\r\n \u201cHow will you ensure that the social aspects of the EU public procurement legislation are strengthened, notably with regard to social award criteria in public contracts, in view of: limiting\u00a0 subcontracting chains and regulating the role of labour intermediaries; ensuring the respect of workers’ rights and the application of collective agreements; enhancing employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and workers with support needs; ensuring that\u00a0 not-for-profit\/social economy providers of social services are not excluded from public contracts?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n In his <\/strong>written response<\/a>, Commissioner-designate S\u00e9journ\u00e9 made four statements to clarify his position on public procurement reform. UNI Europa welcomes his<\/strong><\/p>\r\n At the same time, UNI Europa is concerned by S\u00e9journ\u00e9\u2019s lack of clarity on two points:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n As for Commissioner-designate, Roxana M\u00eenzatu, the committees asked her directly how she will meet objectives on \u201ccollective bargaining\u201d in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights. UNI Europa welcomes M\u00eenzatu\u2019s commitment to strengthening collective bargaining and her proposal for a new Pact for European Social Dialogue:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \u201cI will invest full support into strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining<\/strong>, building on the Minimum Wage Directive and the 2023 Council Recommendation on social dialogue. I will start by proposing, early 2025, a new Pact for European Social Dialogue<\/strong>, working together with European trade unions and employers.<\/strong> Collective bargaining and social dialogue are in fact essential for a flexible and inclusive adaptation to the upcoming challenges of European labour markets, connected to the three transitions: green, digital and demographic.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n Taken together, responses by the Commissioners-designate mark an explicit move towards the most socially progressive revision of the EU Public Procurement Directives, including the obligation for all public contracts to provide for collective bargaining. Sejourn\u00e9 stated that he will work closely with M\u00eenzatu to \u201cpromote social dialogue and high labour standards\u201d in the course of the revision. UNI Europa will keep campaigning to ensure that public procurement will not fund social dumping but strengthen collective bargaining instead.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Between 4 and 12 November, the European Parliament will host a series of hearings to grill EU Commissioners-designate on their legislative strategy. This moment is crucial for holding them to account for their economic and social positions. UNI Europa will focus on the hearings of Roxana M\u00eenzatu (Executive Vice-President-designate for People, Skills and Preparedness, Romania)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":25884,"template":"","categories":[41],"global-issues":[],"sectors":[],"cross-sector-groups":[],"workers-rights":[],"regions":[84],"topics":[46],"class_list":["post-25883","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","regions-uni-europa","topics-procuringdecentwork"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\r\n
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