Parliaments of 11 member states have objected to the Commission´s proposal for a revision of the Posting of Workers Directive. It represents 22 “votes” (each parliament has 2 votes, one for each chamber if it is bicameral), safely above the 1/3 threshold needed for triggering the “Yellow Card” procedure. This procedure was introduced into EU law by the Lisbon Treaty as a subsidiarity check by national parliaments. Ten of the eleven countries, whose parliaments objected, are from the Eastern part of the EU. Denmark is the only “old” member state. The European Commission now has to re-evaluate the proposal with regard to the objections, though it does not have to change or withdraw the proposal. However, the yellow card is a strong political signal. The parliaments objected, among others, to the fact that the Commission did not justify the proposal in terms of subsidiarity. Moreover, the transposition period of the most recent revision of the directive has not yet passed, the Commission´s proposal is thus quite premature. The EC´s proposal gives posted workers new rights concerning remuneration and other benefits. For old member states, posted workers are often a social dumping practice. The new member states point out, however, that if this revision passed, many companies would not be able to give their posted workers the extra money and benefits and would probably go bankrupt – leading to increased unemployment. It is only the third time that the yellow card has been triggered.

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