I welcome the proposal for a Traineeships Directive and its will to be inclusive and accessible, but I expected more!

The European Commission presented a proposal for a Traineeships Directive that does not include the obligation to pay them.

The European Commission presented today a proposal for a Traineeships Directive after several months of asking for it, and its result is quite disappointing.

I appreciate that the Commission followed up on the Parliament report with the publication of this proposal, however the main demand of the European youth is that traineeships should be adequately compensated and in this regard, the Commission's proposal is weak. The notion of fair pay is in the proposed revision of the 2014 Recommendation, which is an improvement, but this is not binding and is a long way far from the demands of the Parliament that asked for a directive on the matter.

Abuse of traineeship schemes and using trainees to fill jobs that should be filled by regular workers is a major issue and I welcome the Commission's proposal for a Directive to fight this practice. The proposal also aims at making learning opportunities across the EU more accessible for all young people, including young people with fewer opportunities, such as persons with disabilities and asks Member States to take measures to combat regular employment relationships disguised as traineeships, with the effect of granting lower levels of protection, including working conditions and pay.

The proposal mentions the obligation for employers to include information on the expected tasks, working conditions (including pay!), social protection, learning and training elements in the vacancy notices and advertisements for traineeships which I celebrate but at the same time find essential.

As regard the revised 2014 Council Recommendation on a Quality Framework for Traineeships, I appreciate that it is comprehensive and includes many aspects that were proposed by the Parliament. Nevertheless due to its nature it is non-binding and therefore the "recommendation of a fair pay for trainees" may not be legally enforced.

Trainees are not cheap employees and their rights must be respected!

[SOURCE]