On 14 February, the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on Sea Fisheries (SSDC-SF) adopted a statement to support the right to make social partners’ agreements legally binding. This comes in the framework of the attitude taken by the Commission over the last year towards agreements signed by social partners, namely by refusing their implementation.
Social partners agreements should be implemented and made legally binding, as established by article 155 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). The first of the agreements that the Commission officially refused to implement is the one signed by the social partners in the hairdressing sector, which deals with matters related to occupational health and safety. Other agreements signed by the Inland Waterways and Sea Fisheries social partners are equally being delayed. No steps forward are to be expected at least until the renewal of the Commission in September 2014.
To denounce this situation, the SSDC-SF had already adopted a declaration at their plenary meeting held in Brussels on 21 November 2013. In the latest declaration, the SSDC-SF recalls the European Commission of its role as a guardian of the Treaty and calls on the Commission to pursue the presentation of the hairdressing agreement to the Council with no furher delay. Social partners in sea fisheries further decided that they will present a complaint to the European Ombudsman due to the refusal of the Commission to act according to article 155 of the TFEU.
