The parliaments of eleven EU member states, among them Hungary’s National Assembly, have showed the so-called “yellow card” to the European Commission for a proposed change in the directive on posted workers. The directive on posted workers has been in effect for 20 years, and it has been instrumental for the undisrupted operation of the EU’s internal market and for safeguarding one of the EU’s key priorities, the freedom to provide services.

The European Commission wants to modify the existing system in a way that is unacceptable for Hungary: by treating the interest of Hungarian employees and enterprises as secondary behind the interest of “old” member states and by attempting to regulate issues that belong clearly to the jurisdiction of member states. The Lisbon Treaty of 2009 provides a formal mechanism for the parliaments of member states to raise their voices against the EU’s trespass of their sovereignty – provided they formulate a legitimate claim. The Commission is obliged to respond to each legitimate demand, but in case one-third of parliaments of member states find the infringement claim justified by giving a reasoned opinion – each of which has two votes – a so-called “yellow card procedure” begins, which gives a warning sign to Brussels. In this case, the Commission must examine reasoned opinions tabled by member states and the College of Commissioners must decide over the future of the disputed proposal: they can either withdraw, amend or possibly maintain it without modification. The fact that it has only been for the third time that parliaments of member states used a “yellow card” to make the Commission reconsider its standpoint signals the weight of this issue.

The parliaments of Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia have voted for a “yellow card”.

In the opinion of the Hungarian Government, it is of vital importance for the European Commission, as the “Guardian of the Treaties”, to thoughtfully examine objections raised by national parliaments and -- within the review process -- weigh the option of withdrawing the proposal, as they did in case of the so-called “Monti  II” proposal in 2012. It would be inadmissible, however, if the European Commission failed to respond to the disapproval in a reasonable manner, similarly to the case when a second “yellow card” had been raised  against the draft directive on the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor Office and it was left unheeded.

(Ministry for National Economy)