Trade union action against the proposed European services e-card

Brussels, 20 June 2017

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is strongly opposed to the services e-card proposed by the European Commission.

To push forward our concerns, ETUC together with the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and the European service workers' trade union (UNI-Europa) are organising a trade union "rejection of the services e-card" action within and outside the European Parliament on 21 June 2017, the day of a public hearing in the internal market committee. Trade unions want to be heard as workers' concerns have not been met by the proposal.

The proposal for an e-card is supposed to enable businesses that want to provide cross-border services to navigate through administrative formalities in one click or so.

But trade unions fear that in reality the services e-card will lead to:

- A revival of the divisive debate on a country of origin principle that was dropped from the Services Directive more than a decade ago
- Obstacles to legitimate controls in the host Member State
- Unhelpful interference with the current discussions on the revision of the posting of workers Directive
- An increase in letterbox companies and bogus self-employment, as the proposed e-card would be valid for an unlimited period.

Thiébaut Weber, ETUC Confederal Secretary, said "Workers' support for the internal market would further erode with that e-card. More than ever, Europe needs to prove that it can be good for them. We cannot leave the door open to deregulation, the expansion of bogus self-employment, undeclared work and fake posting. The ETUC urges European legislators to reject the proposed European services package."