WRITTEN QUESTION E-3834/03 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Discrimination against Portuguese workers abroad.
Date: 2003-12-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, equal pay, equal treatment, free movement of workers, worker (EU), working conditions

C 78 E/654

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

2. Whether the involvement of local authorities in the management of ROP funds (at provincial level) is
nominal or real, given that
the 2000-2006
Community Support Framework?

involved in the drafting of

local authorities were not

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2004)

The Honourable Member’s two questions relate to the principle of partnership involvement
programming and management of assistance (part-financing) from the Community Structural Funds.

in the

That principle is set out in Article 8 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying
down general provisions on the Structural Funds (1): ‘Community actions … shall be drawn up in close
consultation … between the Commission and the Member State, together with the authorities and bodies
designated by the Member State within the framework of its national rules and current practices …’.
Article 8 also requires Member States to ensure association of the relevant partners at each stage of
programming.

Accordingly the administrative authorities in charge of Operational Programmes must, if they are to ensure
that
the partnership principle is correctly and effectively applied, associate the local authorities in
partnership if national rules require them to do so or if they consider it advisable to do so. This entails
setting appropriate consultation procedures.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

(2004/C 78 E/0696)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3834/03

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(12 December 2003)

Subject: Discrimination against Portuguese workers abroad

As the Portuguese Northern Building, Wood, Marble, Stone, Ceramics and Building Materials Trade Union
recently complained, thousands of Portuguese civil construction workers find themselves the victims of the
problems experienced by the sector in Northern Portugal, and as winter draws near, their work contracts
are not being renewed. They are therefore obliged to emigrate, and are frequently the victims of
unscrupulous recruitment agencies which promise them good conditions and then fail to make good the
promises.

Two examples will suffice:

(cid:1) In Iceland, Portuguese workers are constructing tunnels for a water diversion in connection with the
building of dams in Kárahnjúkar, where there are no means of evacuation in an emergency, over and
above the fact that they are discriminated against compared with other workers from EU Member
States;

(cid:1) in Germany (in Berne, in the south) and Spain, the Portuguese workers are discriminated against in
terms of salaries, accommodation and insurance conditions, and their working timetable. In Spain, for
example, they are obliged to work a 12-hour day, and earn less than Spaniards working an 8-hour day
(companies in Galicia, the Basque country, Valencia and Lleida, inter alia).

The Commission:

1. What measures does it

this serious discrimination and unacceptable
exploitation of Portuguese workers in EU Member States, and guarantee them equality in terms of
salaries and working conditions?

intend to take to combat

27.3.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/655

2. What steps are being implemented for the professional certification of these workers at EU level?

3. What measures are planned to prevent companies which win international competitions from

recruiting workers via workforce recruitment agencies?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(29 January 2004)

It is not clear from the question whether the situations referred to fall within the scope of Directive 96/71/
EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of
workers in the framework of the provision of services (1). Where this is the case, the workers concerned
must be covered by a ‘hard core’ of protective rules concerning the working and employment conditions in
force in the host country; these must include,
in particular, rules on maximum working periods, the
minimum wage, and health, safety and hygiene at work.

If, however, the situations in question are placements with the objective of having the workers habitually
perform their work in the EU Member States or EEA countries mentioned, Council Regulation (EEC) 1612/
68 of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers within the Community (2) stipulates that a
worker who is a national of a Member State may not, in the territory of another Member State, be treated
differently from national workers in respect of any conditions of employment and work.

It goes without saying that the Commission deplores situations where these rules are disregarded. It would,
however, point out that the monitoring of compliance with working and employment conditions is
primarily the responsibility of the national authorities.

(1) OJ L 18, 21.1.1997.
(2) OJ L 257, 19.10.1968.

(2004/C 78 E/0697)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3836/03

by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(8 December 2003)

Subject: VAT for transport service providers

The transport sector in the European Union is governed by various tax regimes. For instance, a Belgian
transport service provider may transport its customers to Athens in a coach belonging to a Greek
company, transport them from there to Vienna with an Austrian company and take them to their final
destination in the Netherlands in a coach belonging to a Dutch company. The problem facing this service
provider (cid:1) which is essentially providing its customers with a package and therefore uses subcontractors
(cid:1) is the how to calculate VAT for such a service.

In this specific example, will the Commission say how VAT is to be levied so that all the subcontractors
involved in providing services meet their tax obligations?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Since Community VAT legislation is based on a Directive (the Sixth VAT Directive (cid:1) Directive 77/388/
EEC of 17 May 1977) each Member State is responsible for the transposition of these provisions into
national legislation and their correct application within its territory. In the light of this, and the basic
principle of subsidiarity, national tax administrations have the principal responsibility for informing their
taxable persons about the interpretation and application of these provisions.