The EU’s employment commissioner Nicolas Schmit is looking for the Danish RUT register, which is an important tool to combat social dumping, especially in construction.
This is done via a so-called opening letter, in which he claims that the enforcement directive has been implemented too restrictively in Danish legislation.
Can just call Poland
The Commission does not believe, for example, that Danish authorities can demand there to be a local contact person. Instead, you should simply be able to call Poland to get in touch with the construction company. This is what Fagbladet 3F writes.
It is met with harsh criticism by Palle Bisgaard, deputy chairman of 3F’s construction group:
– It is absolutely essential that we know and can get in touch with a person from the company on site. The intention is to make the Danish model also work for expatriate companies. If we have no contact here, we will not be able to enforce equal conditions, he says.
Dissatisfied with the three-day deadline
The Commission is also dissatisfied that foreign companies must register no later than three days after starting their work.
Acting EU rapporteur for Enhedslisten, Søren Søndergaard, is completely incomprehensible to this:
– If the foreign companies can fill in all possible forms before they start up, they can also register in RUT, he says.
According to Palle Bisgaard, it is “completely uncomplicated” to register:
– If RUT is to make sense, there must, of course, be a requirement that we know the companies as soon as they start work, he says.
According to Acting Employment Minister Peter Hummelgaard (S), the criticism from Brussels is unjustified:
Possible to find common ground
– As we have also replied to the commission, we do not believe that the Danish legislation is inconsistent with the enforcement directive. Therefore, it is also my expectation that it is possible to find common ground where we can continue to maintain the Danish efforts against social dumping without compromising our obligations, says a written response from Peter Hummelgaard to 3F.
It is not the first time that the commission has tried to block the RUT register. For Palle Bisgaard, it is extremely important that the register is not weakened further:
Easy to cheat and deceive
– It is extremely easy to cheat when you come to Denmark as an expatriate company. RUT is a tiny help in combating social dumping but by no means sufficient. Therefore, it is crazy that the commission can say this is too far-reaching, he says to 3F.
The government is now waiting for the commission to respond to the response. It can either, as before, end in a compromise or in an actual case at the European Court of Justice.
