EU: Commissioners designate answer MEPs written questions

As part of the confirmation process commissioners-designate Roxana Mînzatu (People, Skills and Preparedness), and Micheal McGrath (Justice, incl Data Privacy) have replied to written questions from MEPs outlining their plans on employment rights and on digital rights and data protection.

KEY POINTS:

People, Skills and Preparedness

• Mînzatu aims to advance directives on the right to disconnect, telework, and AI in workplaces, while promoting quality jobs through technological innovations. 

• Mînzatu plans a “Pact for European Social Dialogue” by 2025, collaborating with trade unions and employers. 

HRPG Europe view: Mînzatu also says she wants a 

“Quality jobs roadmap to be our new paradigm that will allow us to fully exploit the opportunities that new technologies and digital ecosystems bring for innovation, increased productivity and competitiveness.” 

We’d like to know who can define what “quality jobs” means and who gets to define whether jobs are “quality” jobs, or not. 

As for her replies on Collective bargaining and social dialogue, the EU Commission has been saying much the same thing as Mînzatu for the past thirty years, and yet union membership and collective bargaining coverage across the EU continues to decline. 

There is no evidence that this is going to change as a result of EU initiatives. Once the new Commission is in place, expect talks to open between the Council, the Commission and the Parliament on the rewriting of the European Works Council Directive.

Justice, incl Data Privacy

• McGrath emphasizes GDPR consistency and international data cooperation, crucial for the EU’s digital economy.
• McGrath commits to enhancing GDPR enforcement and facilitating trusted international data transfers.

HOWEVER, as an opinion piece by four senior academics in the EU Observer ominously highlights, McGrath’s inbox may be dominated by the problem of safeguarding and protecting the EU's democratic future. They warn:

“In reality, one member state  - Hungary – is no longer a democracy, and several others are under threat…. [and that] …”The incoming European Commission’s policies on democracy protection both mischaracterise the threat and do not take it seriously enough.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Our April European Academy training program in Sitges, Managing European Employee Relations in Europe Today, will have a session on developing a Workplace AI Policy, led by Oliver Patel, Global Head of AI Governance at AstraZeneca. Full details of this program will be available in early January. 

Email [email protected] to find out more