site.bta CITUB Leader Dimitrov Says There Can Be No Two-speed Europe

CITUB Leader Dimitrov Says There Can Be No Two-speed Europe

Brussels/Sofia, March 9 (BTA) - There can be no two-speed Europe. Nearly all scenarios in the White Paper relevant to the development of the European Union are not good for Bulgaria and there is no way they can be applied, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) President Plamen Dimitrov told EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk. He was speaking at a trilateral social policy meeting, CITUB said in a press release Thursday.

According to Dimitrov, there is also a disturbing two-speed approach to social rights in Europe. This is evidenced in a proposal that the European Pillar of Social Rights, which ought to regulate the entire labour market on the continent, should be introduced in the Eurozone first. This legislation should be valid for all member-states, particularly for such like Bulgaria, which lag behind the leading EU countries, Dimitrov said.

The acceptance of this pillar for the entire territory of the EU is a way to save the European project, making the people confident again that they will receive the relevant pay for their labour and will live well in their old age, the CITUB leader told Juncker and Tusk, as quoted by the press release.

Dimitrov also put forward other proposals at the meeting, including the adoption of new European regulations for new forms of labour (long-distance work, digital platforms, work in different continents and countries).

The aim is to adopt European provisions establishing employment relations for all forms of work, whether in a company office or via the Internet, or whether the work is carried out on a daily, half-daily or hourly basis.

The second proposal of the trade union to the social partners and the EC is to regulate the status of the workplace of new-technology experts. The idea is that their work should meet the minimum standards of the country where they are employed. The next step is to establish a rule that incomes must be declared at the place of work.