No supremacy between the right to strike and economic freedoms. Brought about by controversial rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), subjecting the right to strike to the respect of the EU’s economic freedoms (notably the Viking and Laval cases, see our dispatches No. 071012 and 071034), the Monti II regulation aims to “lay down the general principles and rules applicable at Union level with respect to the exercise of the fundamental right to take collective action within the context of the economic freedoms, in particular the freedom to provide services and establishment.” From then on, the draft sets the principle that “the exercise of freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services enshrined in the Treaty shall respect the fundamental right to take collective action, including the right or freedom to strike, and conversely, the exercise of the fundamental right to take collective action, including the right or freedom to strike, shall respect these economic freedoms.” Thus, there is no priority or precedence between these two rights and freedoms, unlike what follows from the ECJ’s rulings. Unlike its initial plans (see our dispatch No. 120012), the Commission has given up imposing that that the right to strike has to be reconciled with economic freedoms – applying the principle of proportionality resulting from European court rulings. The text adopted today is shorter and, in addition to the principle abovementioned, it recommends alternative methods for dispute settlement, encouraging the Member States to propose out-of-court systems such as mediation, conciliation, arbitration… to solve labor disputes and inviting the European social partners to address the issue and introduce a mediation system for transnational disputes. Finally, the draft introduces a procedure of alert and information between the Commission and the Member State where collective action likely to harm the operations of the single market is ongoing or about to start, or where situations of free provision of service or establishment may seriously damage the industrial relations system or cause social unrest.
ee our dispatch No. 120012), the Commission has given up imposing that that the right to strike has to be reconciled with economic freedoms – applying the principle of proportionality resulting from European court rulings. The text adopted today is shorter and, in addition to the principle abovementioned, it recommends alternative methods for dispute settlement, encouraging the Member States to propose out-of-court systems such as mediation, conciliation, arbitration…
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