We must comply with the European practice

 

11 January 2012 - Speech of Tsvetan Simeonov, BCCI President before the Labour and Social Policy Committee regarding Item 1. Presentation, discussion and voting of Decree No. 304 from 27 December 2011 of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, received in the National Assembly on 28.12.2011 for returning for discussion of the Law on amendment and supplement to the Labour Code, adopted by the National Assembly on 15.12.2011 and the accompanying motives. 

Thank you for the opportunity to once again state BCCI’s position directly before the Committee. The content of the Presidential veto is much broader than the arguments we presented, because we are interested mainly in the topics concerning employers.

First of all, the claims that the criteria set in the present text of the Labour Code reflect international practice are untrue. A practice according to which employers’ organizations should meet certain restrictive criteria does not exist either in the European Union, or worldwide. The claims of the Ministry of Labour that there are special texts and references concerning BCCI are unfounded – there are no such texts in any European documents. On the contrary – we have also cited several EU documents, which clearly recognize other organizations as employers’ organizations, including the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Eurochambres) – this is another organization of which BCCI is also a member. It has also been recognized and there are no objections to BCCI’s status and capacity as organization of employers. Therefore, I would like to remind you that organizations in Denmark and Austria, and more precisely chambers of commerce, have also been authorized to perform such activities and these activities in no way prevent them from being employers’ organizations. This is also evidence that the claims that we are outside the European practice are unfounded. That is why I appeal to the members of the Labour and Social Policy Committee to take into account the European practice and not be affected by the fact that the President proposed the veto, to get to the heart of the arguments and vote according to conscience. 

12.01.2012