Industrial Relations in Europe 2012 - European Commission - Europa

contractor has undertaken due diligence. Member States can, however, provide for more
stringent rules and extend them to other sectors.
The Monti II Regulation addressed the concern often voiced by trade unions that, as a result
of the 2007 Viking Line and Laval rulings, economic freedoms established in the Treaty were
given primacy over fundamental social rights such as the right to strike. The proposed
Regulation confirmed that there is no primacy of the freedom to provide services or of
establishment over the right to strike, while recognising that situations may arise where these
freedoms and rights may have to be reconciled in accordance with the principle of
proportionality.
It introduced an alert mechanism in order to provide other Member States and the
Commission with timely and transparent information on serious acts or circumstances
affecting the effective exercise of the freedom of establishment or the freedom to provide
services. A similar mechanism (Monti I) was established in 1998 in the field of free
movement of goods 109 , under which Member States should provide for existing alternative
dispute resolution mechanisms to cover cross-border situations.
Both proposals were transmitted to the other EU institutions as well as to the national
Parliaments of the Member States. The Council started discussions on them. The European
Parliament organised a hearing on 18 September 2012. However, 12 national Parliaments
adopted reasoned opinions 110 expressing concerns related, among others, to the added value
of the draft Monti II Regulation, the choice of its legal basis and the EU competence to
regulate this matter.
Although the Commission was of the view that the principle of subsidiarity had not been
breached, it nevertheless recognised that its proposal for Regulation was unlikely to gather the
necessary political support within the European Parliament and Council to enable its adoption.
Consequently, it withdrew this proposal on 26 September 2012 hoping that this would
facilitate a rapid negotiation of the other part of the package, namely the proposal for an
Enforcement Directive.
8.2.2 Working time Directive
Work continued during 2011–2012 on the review of the working time Directive
(2003/88/EC). The aim of this review is to ensure that EU working time rules can meet the
needs of employers and workers in the 21 st century, while securing effective protection of
workers' health and safety.
109 Council Regulation of 7 December 1998 on the functioning of the internal market in relation to the free
movement of goods among Member states, OJ L337/8, 12.12.98.
110 On the basis of Protocol N° 2 to the EU Treaties on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and
proportionality.
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