Each national parliament is guaranteed a six-week period to consider a Commission proposal and to consult with ministers, before the Council of Ministers may adopt a position. How this is done is, of course, up to each country. Some, such as the Nordic states, have set up impressive procedures which involve ministers going to the relevant parliamentary committee both before they travel to Brussels and on their return. There is nothing to stop other national parliaments from following this example of accountability. There is ample evidence that a well-informed and motivated workforce can add value to the bottom line.
Proper consultation is vital to ensuring long-term success.
It is hard to see how any well-managed business would ever seriously consider such an approach. The Commission's proposal would require every business with more than 50 staff to establish formal procedures for informing and consulting employees in the workplace. In the UK alone this legislation would affect more than 37,000 companies. As currently drafted, the directive is fundamentally incompatible with the essential principles of good company management. The first assumption is flawed because only a relationship based on trust between employer and employee is viable in the long term.