Yesterday, at a plenary meeting in Strasbourg, the European Parliament voted in favor of a text asking the Commission to put forward proposals to put an end to illegal practices resulting from overly complex supply chains. This phenomenon mainly occurs in road transport.
While the European Parliament recognizes that subcontracting is an essential part of the competitiveness of the European economy (in that it allows more companies, small or large, to participate in tenders and allows greater flexibility), it wants to combat abuses resulting from overly long and overly complex subcontracting chains. It therefore voted in favor of a text tabled by the EMPL Committee (Employment and Social Affairs) and defended by rapporteur Johan Danielsson.
Some Member States have already taken measures to limit the length of subcontracting chains, but Parliament wants to make this a European obligation as legal differences and poor enforcement of the law could lead to a dilution of responsibilities due to the many levels of subcontracting, increase the risk of labor law violations, increase the risk of social dumping and hinder effective enforcement of the law. This concerns in particular the different forms of employment mediation, especially in cross-border subcontracting chains. An area where, in recent years, several cases of clear abuse have received a lot of attention in the media in road transport.
The text approved by Parliament has been watered down compared to the original version: for example, it no longer mentions a limitation to two levels of subcontracting. The text is nevertheless welcomed by the ETF (the European Transport Union), which believes that this is a clear political signal to the European Commission that there is an urgent need to propose an ambitious European directive on subcontracting and job placement under the Quality Jobs Act.
