Initial implementation and recommendations for the future Public Hearing the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights Initial implementation and recommendations for the future 28 March 2019 Christiane Miβlbeck-Winberg Director, European and International Affairs, Confederation of Danish Employers

The difficult Danes - Our objective is not to stop the development of better social and working conditions in the EU. - Denmark has high standards. - We have no wish tripping other MS on their way to reach better working conditions. - Exactly the opposite. We wish other MSs to reach the same standards as we have reached. - But we have reached these standards through collective agreements and not through law making.

Directives There is a reason why, collective agreements are more efficient to achieve higher standards. The employees and employers have the knowledge about which solutions works best in their exact work place. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. This applies when talking about different MS with different labour markets. But also when talking about different sectors and different national regions. An example is the work-life balance directive. We have implemented longer maternity leave through our collective agreements. With a directive, we won’t have the opportunity to decide for our selves what suits the employees and employers best in each sector. Therefore we fear that directives like this will pave the way for more directives. This could have great consequences for the Danish labour market model. The European Semester and the CSRs are a better way secure the development. This will allow each country to solve the problems in a way that fits their labour market and traditions. And of course we wish for the social dialogue to be strengthened all over Europe.

The European Labour Authority - We already have rules to secure mobile workers. However, problems exist. But instead of adopting new laws we must focus on making the existing laws work well. They must be implemented evenly in the MS and enforced. - With the European Labour Authority we have a possibility to do just that and thereby make the current rules work better. The Authority should focus on enforcing the existing rules and in doing so supporting the free movement of workers. It should also secure better cooperation between MS and deliver information to companies and workers moving across boarders.