High time for Europe to tackle social dumping

Last year, half of all companies were caught out in targeted checks for social dumping. Numerous breaches were found especially in the construction and transport industries. According to Member of Parliament Wouter Raskin, the Belgian government's approach is beneficial, but the actual bottleneck is located at the European level. "The posting directive must be adapted to today's reality," Raskin declares. He expects Euro Commissioner for Employment, Marianne Thysse (CD&V) to finally get working on it.

"Social fraud erodes support for our Social security Social security is currently managed at the Federal level in Belgium. The most important pillars of Belgian social security are: sickness and invalidity insurance (NIDHI), pensions, unemployment insurance and child allowances. In addition, occupational illness, occupational accidents and annual holidays are dealt with at this level. Some Flemish parties have been campaigning for years for (large parts of) social security to be transferred to the Regions and Communities. social security . It must be dealt with decisively," Raskin states. "The government approach is clearly bearing fruit." Not only has the chance of getting caught been increased, but the proceeds from the fight against social dumping have also increased strongly.

European bottleneck
However, the existing European regulations around secondment keep giving unfair competition a chance. For example, foreign employees can be seconded to Belgium for two years without paying social-security contributions here. That often makes them significantly cheaper than Belgian employees. "European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen has been working on a package of measures in the fight against social dumping for some time. It's only their proposal that continues to be postponed," Raskin states ruefully. He asks that pressure on her be increased. "The problems around the euro and the current refugee crisis have done the European Union little good. It would really be a pity, should Europe also be associated with unfair competition and social dumping," Raskin concludes.