Posted Workers in the EU: Lost Between Conflicting Interests and Single Market Objectives

Abstract

Over the course of twenty years, the practice of the temporary posting of workers from one Member State to another where the said workers do not integrate into the host country’s labour market has become a widely discussed topic in the European Union that creates a split between its Member States. The paper considers the issue of posted workers within the EU, approaching it from the perspective of law, as well as politics. Through critical analysis of EU case law and legal documents, the authors identify an issue that goes well beyond the divide between ‘old’ and ‘new’ Member States, given that within each country there are different beliefs about the appropriate level of state (or EU) intervention in the market regarding the posting of workers. In order to prove this hypothesis, the authors use Croatia as a case study, where interviews were conducted with Croatia’s most prominent opposing poles regarding this issue. Finally, the authors give a final evaluation of the issue at hand and underline the timeless conflict between workers’ rights and business competitiveness.

Keywords

• posted workers
• european union
• eu single market
• workers’ rights
• yellow card procedure