Rules for Uber or Deliveroo
Paris and Berlin are allowing EU reform to fail
February 16, 2024, 7:36 p.m
The EU wanted to improve the rights of Uber drivers, food delivery people or other platform workers. Now the reform in Brussels has failed. France first defeats the draft and then a compromise. Germany joins in.
An EU law for more rights for employees at so-called platform companies such as Uber and Deliveroo has initially failed due to resistance from Germany and France. The two countries and other smaller EU member states positioned themselves at diplomatic level in Brussels against the draft law negotiated with the EU Parliament. The necessary majority of 15 member states and 65 percent of the EU population was not achieved.
The law should ensure that employees of so-called platform companies are considered fully employed under certain conditions. The negotiators from the European Parliament and member states originally agreed in December on EU-wide criteria such as wage levels and fixed rules for clothing or working hours. However, a group of EU countries around France overturned the compromise shortly afterwards.
A new agreement was reached last week, although it no longer provided for uniform criteria across the EU. Instead, the text primarily referred to national laws, international agreements and the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The implementation of the rights for employees would therefore lie almost exclusively with the member states.
More than 30 million people work for platforms
A French EU diplomat criticized the agreement as causing “great legal uncertainty” for the member states. There is a risk of a fragmentation of the common market in the EU. The federal government also changed course and no longer signaled its approval.
The future of the new regulations is now uncertain. “We believe that this directive, which must represent an important step forward for workers, has already come a long way,” said the Belgian EU Council Presidency. “We will think about the next steps.” However, time is now running out to pass the law before the European elections at the beginning of June.
So far, Uber drivers or bicycle couriers, for example, are often self-employed on paper and therefore do not have social insurance through their employer, among other things. More than 30 million people in the EU work for platform companies, and by 2025 this number could rise to more than 40 million. According to the EU Commission, around 5.5 million of them are incorrectly self-employed.