Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has pushed back against European Commission plans to create an “EU Inc.”
The proposal, led by Ireland’s EU Commissioner Michael McGrath, would create an optional EU-wide company structure which would allow firms to operate with fewer rules across borders.
Ó Ríordáin said that Europe’s economic model “cannot be reduced to deregulation and market access alone,” and said that the EU’s strength has always relied on fair rules for workers.
“Yes, Europe needs successful businesses – but what we do not need is to kick labour law out the back door,” the Labour MEP said.
Ó Ríordáin noted that the proposal has flown under the radar as it contains highly technical language, which is difficult to explain in simple terms, but he said it was worth paying attention to.
“Most people will not have heard of the so-called 28th Regime or EU Inc., being proposed by EU Commissioner Michael McGrath. But behind the technical language is a very serious question: will companies be allowed to choose a new European legal form while workers are left with weaker rights, weaker protections and weaker voice at work?”
“Europe’s economic model is not meant to be a race to the bottom. It is built on the idea that growth must go hand in hand with social rights, environmental standards and decent work,” he said.
“Those protections are not obstacles to economic development, they are what make Europe worth defending.”
He explained that should the proposal be introduced, it would have an effect on the average Irish worker.
“This matters particularly in Ireland. We have some of the weakest labour protections in Europe, and many of the most important advances for Irish workers have come from European law. If EU labour rights are undermined, Irish workers will be among the first to feel it,” he warned.
“If this regime allows companies to shop for the lightest obligations, avoid worker participation or undermine national labour standards, then it is not innovation. It is deregulation dressed up as “competitiveness,” he claimed.
“The Commission and McGrath cannot cherry-pick. If they want a new European company form, then it must come with European-level guarantees for workers. That means no loopholes, no race to the bottom and no possibility for companies to use EU Inc. to dodge the rules that protect people at work,” he said.
Ó Ríordáin said the fight for workers’ rights “is as relevant now as it has ever been.”
“Workers’ rights are under siege, and too often new technologies are being used not to improve working lives, but to concentrate wealth in the hands of a small group of people,” he warned.
“With my S&D Group I will oppose any version of this proposal that weakens labour law by the back door. Europe should be building a fair economy, not creating a new escape route from workers’ rights,” he said.