International

On this occasion not so much attention was paid to the event, but on May 18th the European Commission published its so-called 'country recommendations'. The SP is opposed to all of this meddling, but the document remains an interesting read, especially now that in one of its three recommendations the Commission states unequivocally that the growth in the number of one-person businesses is a problem which must be addressed. Is this the same body which for years was advocating 'flexicurity' and flexible employment conditions?

The country recommendations form part of European Economic Governance which in turn forms part of Brussels' response to the financial crisis – a power-grab to enable the Commission to interfere in the entirety of the member states' social and economic policy. This is, moreover, precisely what they are doing: from recommendations regarding our pensions and on the housing market, to calls relating to budgetary space and the direction of our public spending in general. This is interference which the SP simply won't tolerate.

So if I'm nevertheless devoting a weeklog to this, it's principally because in relation to the labour market the Commission has suddenly and totally changed its tune to one which is a little closer to that sung by the SP. Flexibilisation has gone into meltdown as a result of one-person businesses receiving fiscal advantages intended for small employers. And one-person businesses are cheaper, because they often fail to pay any social charges. The Commission is now advocating limiting fiscal distortions and facilitating access by one-person businesses to social protection and social security schemes.

The trade union movement claims that they have expressed concerns over this matter in meetings with the Commission. Good work, but it remains ludicrous that these matters cannot be regulated by the two sides of industry together with national authorities, but instead have to go through Brussels. Now that time after time it has turned out that the Commission doesn't know best at all, all of these recommendations should be ignored by the member states in a sort of rebellion against European Economic Governance.