Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century

Speech by Liz Lynne on Tue 10th Jul 2007

Mr President, I would also like to congratulate the rapporteur and thank him for his cooperation. This debate is about the future of labour law and we must recognise the current reality, which is that there has been an increase in non-standard contracts and that we must focus on employment security rather than on job security.

I do not believe we should be calling for a definition of worker at EU level. That should be left up to Member States. As far as collective bargaining is concerned, it still has a very significant role to play, but we must make sure that people who do not belong to a trade union have a way into the process. As, too, should small and medium-sized enterprises.

At the moment, the Commission's list of social partners is short, and I believe it fails to truly take into account the views of SMEs, which are in many ways the engine room of Europe's economy. I urge everyone here to vote for the ALDE Group's amendments.