Source: European Parliament
14.10.2024
Question for written answer E-002060/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Isabelle Le Callennec (PPE)
The Commission recently amended the social clause in sustainable fisheries partnership agreements (SFPAs). This clause requires EU vessels to comply with decisions, such as that on the basic minimum wage for seafarers, made by the Joint Maritime Commission of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It does not cite either ILO Convention No 188 on Work in Fishing or Directive 2017/159.
In December 2023, the Commission informed the social partners in the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on Sea-Fisheries (SSDC-F) that it did not have the authority to set a minimum wage in SFPAs. However, in April, July and then September 2024, it proceeded to send them three successive versions of the same social clause. The first imposed the basic minimum wage for seafarers, doing away with the share remuneration system. The second saw the Commission row back, stating that the minimum wage was no longer compulsory, only for that to be reversed two months later by a third clause, with the Commission blaming a translation error in the July version.
- 1.Does the Commission have the authority to set a minimum wage in SFPAs? In that context, could the Commission provide the legal opinion set out in Ares(2023)6074027 and Ares(2024)4969475?
- 2.Can the Commission impose the results of biennial wage negotiations on the fishing sector when its social partners are excluded from those negotiations?
Submitted: 14.10.2024