WRITTEN QUESTION P-1947/00 by Ulla Sandbæk (EDD) to the Commission. Implementation of directives in Member States via collective bargaining agreements.
Date: 2000-06-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, EC Directive, application of EU law, arrangement of working time, collective agreement, labour law, national implementing measure, organisation of work, social partners

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/53

This has been the main subject of the communication of the Commission on the Community development
co-operation policy which states that the main objective of development co-operation is poverty reduction.

The Community is steadily increasing its aid to least developed countries and will continue to do so on a
more systematic basis.

At the macro-economic level, structural adjustment programmes of the (cid:145)new generation(cid:146) include social
indicators (health and education) for the allocation of part of the funds, in order to stimulate the countries
concerned to achieve better results in these sectors.

In the framework of EU-ACP co-operation, the national indicative programmes put emphasis on poverty
In many African countries this is
reduction as an important objective of development co-operation.
reflected in the choice of focal sectors such as food security, rural development, or social sectors. Amounts
allocated to basic social services (health and education) have dramatically increased.

At the international level, the Community has promoted the importance of dealing with the political and
international dimensions of poverty. These issues are now recognised in the agendas of the SPA and
development assistance committee (DAC) working groups on poverty, and the Commission is actively
engaged in this work.

The recently signed Cotonou agreement between the ACP countries and the Union provides a good
example of a contractual framework for co-operation centred on the objective of poverty reduction.
Community development co-operation will be based on integrated strategies that incorporate economic,
social, cultural, environmental and institutional elements that must be locally owned. Co-operation will
thus provide a coherent enabling framework of support for the ACP(cid:146)s own development strategies.

2.
For specific results on poverty reduction, the Honourable Member is invited to refer to the evaluation
of (cid:145)The European Community External Co-operation Programmes- policies, management and distribution(cid:146)
published by the Commission and the Overseas Development Institute (1999). This evaluation shows that
investment in access to basic social services (especially health and education) has dramatically increased in
ACP countries over the last three years. Results on poverty reduction have certainly be significant in the
field of protection of social budgets within the framework of structural adjustment programmes, of
microprojects and decentralised co-operation.

(2001/C 113 E/049)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1947/00

by Ulla Sandb(cid:230)k (EDD) to the Commission

(7 June 2000)

Subject: Implementation of directives in Member States via collective bargaining agreements

The then Commissioner Padraig Flynn gave an assurance on 10 May 1993 that it is possible to implement
directives via collective bargaining agreements without supplementary legislation. Was it
in
Commissioner Flynn(cid:146)s letter that such implementation can take place only where there is 100 % coverage
by such an agreement?

implicit

How does the Commission envisage that Danish workers not covered by collective bargaining agreements
could come within the scope of Council Directive 93/104/EC (1) of 23 November 1993 concerning certain
aspects of the organisation of working time?

(1) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993, p. 18.

C 113 E/54

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(12 July 2000)

In respect of the use of collective agreements as a means of implementation the Honourable Member is
referred to Article 137(4) (ex Article 118) of the EC Treaty:

A Member State may entrust management and labour, at their joint request, with the implementation
of directives pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 3. In this case, it shall ensure that, no later than the date
on which a directive must be transposed in accordance with Article 249, management and labour
have introduced the necessary measures by agreement, the Member State concerned being required to
take any necessary measure enabling it at any time to be in a position to guarantee the results
imposed by that directive.

Secondly, the Court of Justice has stated that:

Although Member States may leave the implementation of the (principle of equal pay) in the first
instance to representatives of management and labour, that possibility does not discharge them from
the obligation of ensuring, by appropriate legislative and administrative provisions, that all workers in
the Community are afforded the full protection provided for in Directive (1). That State guarantee must
cover all cases where effective protection is not ensured by other means, for whatever reason, and in
particular cases where the workers in question are not union members, where the sector in question is
not covered by a collective agreement or where such an agreement does not
fully guarantee
(the principle of equal pay) (2).

the Commission is examining the implementation of Council Directive 93/104/EC of
At present,
23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (3) with a view to
presenting a comprehensive implementation report concerning all Member States. As regards the Danish
implementation of the Directive, the Commission has been in contact with the Danish authorities with a
view to clarifying whether certain provisions of the Directive are implemented in a way which ensures that
all workers are granted the full extent of their rights.

(1) Council Directive 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating

to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women (OJ L 45, 19.2.1975).

(2) Case 143/83 Commission v. Kingdom of Denmark [1985] ECR 427. See also e.g. Case 235/84 Commission v.

Italian Republic [1986] ECR 2291.

(3) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993.

(2001/C 113 E/050)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1957/00

by Mario Mauro (PPE-DE), Johan Van Hecke (PPE-DE)
and Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Council

(19 June 2000)

Subject: Human rights violations in northern Uganda

Is the Council aware of what is happening in northern Uganda, where more than ten thousand
1.
children have been abducted in recent years and more children are still being abducted on an almost daily
basis, by rebels of the Lord(cid:146)s Resistance Army?

Is the Council informed about the role of the Sudanese armed forces in training, arming and using

2.
these children for military operations against the Ugandan army and the SPLA in South Sudan?

3.
Is the Council informed that many of these children are dying of cholera in the camps in South
Sudan, of mistreatment or of life-threatening conditions on the battlefield both in Uganda and South
Sudan?