• 16.10.2020

The Council adopted conclusions recognizing that seasonal and other mobile workers in the EU are often exposed to unfavorable working and living conditions and risks of exploitation and do not have sufficient information on responsibilities and rights. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these problems worsened and became even more visible. At the same time, the Council recognizes that seasonal and other mobile workers make an important contribution to the internal market and that they continue to do so in the current crisis.

In its conclusions, the Council emphasized the importance of this issue and called on the Member States, in accordance with their competences and national circumstances, to fully implement EU and national law, in particular in the field of free movement of workers and freedom to provide services, third-country nationals as seasonal workers, as well as working and living conditions. The Council emphasizes the importance of information and consultation and invites Member States to provide information in the language of the workers, or at least in a language they understand. In addition, the Council invites Member States to examine the possibility of setting specific requirements for temporary employment and recruitment agencies to ensure that they comply with the minimum quality standards set by national and EU law, and when it is appropriate, from collective agreements. The conclusions propose to assess whether the inspections currently carried out in the Member States are sufficient to enforce EU and national law and to increase transparency regarding liability in subcontracting chains.

The Council also calls on the European Commission to carry out a study to collect data on seasonal work within the EU and to identify the main challenges, including, where possible, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to assess the areas in which the protection of seasonal workers should be strengthened, and policy recommendations made.

The Council emphasizes the essential role of the social partners and other EU bodies, in particular the European Labor Authority, which is invited to support Member States in all their actions.

The conclusions were adopted by written procedure.

Author: consilium.europa.eu