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Background

A European Works Council (EWC) is a body that facilitates information and consultation with European employees on transnational issues. EWCs are composed of employees representatives from each country that is a member of either or both of the European Union and the European Economic Area, in which a business has employees. They operate separately from national information and consultation bodies.

The concept of an EWC dates from the early 1990s, when the first EU legislation on EWCs was enacted (Directive 94/45/EC). That legislation was revised in 2009 to strengthen the rights of EWCs and their members (with Directive 94/45/EC being recast as Directive 2009/38/EC). To the frustration of the European trade union movement, however, those revisions did not alter managers fundamental prerogative to manage their businesses.

On 2 February 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution approving a report drawn up by the German MEP and former trade union official, Denis Radtke (the Radtke Report). The Radtke Report calls for fundamental and profound amendments to the current legal framework on EWCs. Its most significant suggestions include:

On 11 April 2023, the European Commission launched a first-stage consultation of European social partners on a revision of the Directive. It did so in line with President von der Leyens commitment that the European Commission would follow up on any resolution by the European Parliament calling for legislative reform.

However, and despite the first-stage consultation purportedly examining whether there is a case for EU action, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights had already indicated that unless the European social partners (BusinessEurope on the employer side and the European Trade Union Confederation on the employee side) indicate that they will negotiate changes to the Directive between them, he will bring forward new legislation by the end of 2023.

The first-stage consultation highlighted six main areas for potential reform, all of which are contextualised by reference to the relevant parts of the Radtke Report:

The consultation further drew out a range of other areas for potential reform, again based on the Radtke report:

Together, such a broad package of reforms would have profound implications for businesses. The Financial Times has recently called the proposed fines for failing adequately to inform and consult staggering and preposterous. It also noted that a company such as Amazon could face a fine of EUR 7.3 billion for what a court accepted was an unintentional breach of a process that, if done correctly, could have resulted in Amazon lawfully deciding to reject the EWCs opinion in any event.

On 26 July 2023, the European Commission launched a second-stage consultation of European social partners on a revision of the Directive. This reflected that it concluded after its first-stage consultation that there is scope for further EU action to improve the Directive, meaning that it is appropriate for it to consult European social partners on the potential areas for reform already identified.

The second-stage consultation will be open until 4 October 2023. Following this, European social partners may enter into negotiations to conclude an agreement between themselves for legislative approval or, alternatively, and noting that the prospects of agreement between the European social partners is low given their responses to the first-stage consultation, the European Commission may itself propose draft legislation.

The European Commission must consult with the European social partners before bringing forward any legislative proposals in the field of social policy. However, and as noted above, it might reasonably be considered to be unlikely that the European social partners will be able to agree reforms between them, especially given the immediate union-side reaction to the consultation. As such, it appears likely that the European Commission will proceed with proposing new legislation in due course.

If and when any new legislation is proposed, we will publish a further client update. In the meantime, businesses with concerns about these proposals may wish to consider seeking to engage with BusinessEurope before the second-stage consultation closes.

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Second-stage consultation launched on significant reforms to ... - Lewis Silkin

A Butterfly project, co-funded by the European Union, is looking for three composers from countries participating in the Creative Europe programme (including Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine).

The selected candidates are expected to write a three-act opera dedicated to the theme of environmental sustainability (water, earth, and air). The opera is to be commissioned by Teatro Comunale di Modena (Italy), Opera Batycka (Gdansk, Poland), and Opera Box (Helsinki, Finland).

The conception of this opera will begin with a co-creation phase implemented by high school students in three partners countries Italy, Poland and Finland. The selected authors will work hand-in-hand with the creative team and the artistic directors in two residencies in Italy and Poland.

The project will culminate in May 2025, after two years of work. The premiere of this new opera will take place both in the partner theatres and online. The final production will strongly rely on advanced digital technologies and will showcase the pathways for a more sustainable opera production.

Each composer will receive a 11,000 gross fee, including performing rights (both in person and online streaming), and printed scores free of rights.

The deadline for applications is 17 September.

Find out more

Press release

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Creative Europe: call for three composers to write three-act opera on ... - euneighbourseast.eu

LONDON: European consumers may soon have to pay more for sweet treats as summer heatwaves push up the price of sugar.

Sugar buyers and producers are currently negotiating contracts for the 2023-2024 harvest season, which starts in October.

Prices being cited are over 1,000 (RM5,091) a tonne, said people with knowledge of the matter more than double what they were in the middle of last year. Thats set to raise costs in the snack aisle.

Last years drought-related drop in sugar output offers a glimpse into what might unfold if the same were to happen again.

Sugar production for the current 2022-23 season fell 12% relative to the previous one, and at 14.6 million tonnes, was one million tonnes below initial European Union (EU) estimates.

While large companies and in turn, consumers were shielded from big price hikes thanks to long-term contracts, prices in the spot market have surged 58% since last October, squeezing smaller and medium-sized confectioneries.

Warning signs are already flashing: rain delayed this years planting by roughly a month, and rising temperatures have since increased the risk of both drought and pests spreading faster and ravaging small sugar beet crops.

Producers have so far taken a cautious approach to pricing, said John Stansfield, a senior sugar analyst at DNEXT Intelligence.

Critically, its what happens in the next two or three months: do we get rain or do we get just drought conditions?

With supplies already tight and the threat of drought looming, Germanys Suedzucker AG and Frances Tereos are among those who expect prices to stay high. And this year, with new contracts being signed at record price levels, the extra costs wont be easy to avoid.

Kona Haque, head of commodities research at ED&F Man, said some companies will have to pass the burden along to consumers.

Its not the end of sugar price inflation for Europe, said Yury Sharanov, president of CIUS, a lobby group representing both sugar consumers and industrial-scale buyers in Europe.

The situation has been exacerbated by low levels of sugar stock, which shrank last year as companies dipped into their reserves.

Destocking will be the ultimate driver for EU sugar prices, which are incredibly sticky, said Julian Price, an independent sugar consultant and former president of the European Association of Sugar Traders.

Despite all this, some analysts are cautiously optimistic that production may increase.

The EU has forecast that output could reach 15.5 million tonnes this season, with a spike in Polands sugar beet acreage offsetting a decline in France.

Not everybody agrees. Analysts have also expressed concern about yellow virus, a disease that can wipe out sugar beet crops.

Following Frances restrictions on neonicotinoids a type of pesticide that protects against the yellow virus experts at Green Pool Commodity Specialists estimate that Europes sugar production could drop below the EU estimate to 14.8 million tonnes.

Whilst there have been few reports so far of virus yellow symptoms, it is still too early to say if 2023 beet crops have dodged the yellow virus bullet, Green Pool analysts noted.

It is possible that symptoms will appear this month.

Such instability isnt limited to Europe. The worlds sugar comes from cane grown in tropical climes and beets, which thrive in traditionally cooler areas further north.

Extreme weather is hurting both kinds, with El Nino threatening to curb cane harvests in South-East Asia and Africa, and rising temperatures making Europe less hospitable to beets. Bloomberg

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Not so sweet news in the European Union - The Star Online

New social media network Threads, which launched July 5, continues to break records and cause a global storm as the number of users continues to rise, standing at around one hundred million worldwide.

However, as numbers continue to rise, those living in the European Union have been left out in the cold as various regulatory circumstances have prevented it from being launched across EU countries.

Although it's still unclear if and when a solution to these issues will be found, the version that may eventually be made available in these countries could still be different from that launched in the US and elsewhere.

Although the app is unavailable, it isnt because the EU blocked it, but rather that the onus is on Meta itself, which hasn't yet prepared the service to operate in Europe according to the regulations of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which deals with maintaining user privacy.

A spokesperson for the Irish Data Protection Commission explained to the Irish Independent that although they've talked with Meta regarding the new service, at this point it's not expected to operate in the EU.

Sources close to Meta explained to the Independent that the company avoided operating the service in the EU because of what they believe is a lack of clarity of the laws and regulations on this issue.

In addition to GDPR, Meta is reportedly also concerned about the Digital Markets Law (DMA) which will enter into force in 2024 and affects the way huge companies can use users' information while defining Meta as a gatekeeper.

In the meantime, Twitter submitted during a cease-and-desist letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Meta. In the document, Twitter accused Meta of employing its former employees, which gives access to Twitter's trade secrets and other classified information.

It also states that Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and requires Meta to take immediate steps to stop using Twitter's trade secrets or other confidential information.

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People in the European Union can't use Threads, and this is why - The Jerusalem Post

ByBalzs Orbn, Hungarian Parliament member, Political director for PM Viktor OrbnUpdated:14/07/2023 -17:20

We cannot allow select countries to impose their will on others on critical issues of war and peace, such as the imposition of sanctions or the financing of weapons, Balzs Orbn writes.

In an open letter published in Politico on 12 June, seven EU foreign ministers proposed a shift towards the greater use of qualified majority voting, QMV, in the block's Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Accepting such a proposal would not only endanger national sovereignty but also undermine the strength of the EU.

Primarily, a country's foreign policy is crucial in shaping its direction, and the pursuit of a sovereign foreign policy is necessary to protect its independence.

The European Union was established after World War II and gained new dynamism after the collapse of the Soviet Union, both times with the aim of overcoming imperialistic ambitions and fostering cooperation among equal, independent, and sovereign member states.

Abandoning independent foreign policy through the elimination of unanimous decision-making would fundamentally contradict the essence of the Union.

We must acknowledge that geopolitics matters, which highlights notable distinctions between smaller and larger nations, as well as between the North and South and the East and West.

We cannot allow select countries to impose their will on others on critical issues of war and peace, such as the imposition of sanctions or the financing of weapons.

Secondly, as evidenced by surveys such as the ECFRs recent opinion polls, the European public holds a range of diverse opinions when it comes to foreign policy.

In light of the EU's motto, "united in diversity," rather than marginalising these differences, the bloc should leverage the diverse perspectives of its member states.

Opting for unanimous decision-making fosters constructive discussions and ensures that diverse opinions, even those diverging from the mainstream, are duly considered as they reflect the will of the people.

As Konrad Adenauer stated, "we all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. The true strength of our community lies in its diversity of opinions.

Thirdly, the current challenges we confront clearly show that enlargement is not just an option but a geopolitical necessity.

There is a growing consensus that enlargement can provide the much-needed dynamism to the EU, leading to the possibility of having 35 member states in the near future.

While the specific framework is yet to be finalised, the idea that enlargement requires deeper integration and sacrificing sovereignty for member states is misleading.

Given their historical backgrounds, prospective member states have a strong desire to preserve their independence and sovereign foreign policy.

We must therefore foster an environment where candidate countries aspire to join the EU.

Proposing a shift to QMV in foreign policy decision-making may risk alienating these candidate countries and hindering the enlargement process.

A successful and competitive EU necessitates embracing a more flexible integration model that highlights the importance of open discussions, constructive debates, and compromises among its member states.

Lastly, the legal backbone of the seven ministers' proposal is the utilisation of Article 31 of the Treaty on the European Union which would introduce "constructive abstention", permit QMV for common positions as well as for certain operative actions, and establish a passerelle clause to make QMV the standard procedure in specific foreign policy areas.

Out of these three proposals, constructive abstention is the least controversial, something even Hungary used last October.

However, the other two options are not viable solutions as they would requiresurrendering state sovereignty without obtaining the necessary democratic mandate from the people.

Seeking consensus is and will always be at the core of our European identity." This statement, emphasised by the seven ministers in their letter, captures the essence of our European identity indeed: valuing as well as showing mutual respect, engaging in constructive discussions, and striving for compromise.

In this era of rapid geopolitical transformations, it becomes even more important for the EU to show a unified front, demonstrating our solidarity and coherence in decision-making.

We must collaborate and make collective foreign policy decisions, recognising that true unity can only be achieved through consensus.

Balzs Orbn is a member of the Hungarian Parliament and political director for Prime Minister Viktor Orbn.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at view@euronews.com to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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The true strength of the EU lies in its diversity of opinions - Euronews