Mobility as a European political battleground. Issues and actors in the revision of the posting of workers directive

Résumé En

After having been set aside as an unattainable goal during the years of the Barroso II Commission, the reform of the Posting of Workers Directive (PWD) was brought back to centre stage by the political guidelines outlined by President Juncker in his speech of July 15, 2014, in front of the European Parliament. At the time, Mr. Juncker committed to a targeted review of the PWD to ensure that “in our Union, the same work at the same place should be remunerated in the same manner.” Notwithstanding open opposition from some actors, the revision was ultimately adopted on June 28, 2018. This interdisciplinary contribution analyses both the revision itself and the actors that participated in negotiating it at EU level. Firstly, we examine the debates that took place in the European Parliament, focusing in particular on the Members of the European Parliament who participated in these debates (rapporteurs, rapporteurs of opinions, those asking written questions, etc.). Secondly, we analyse the content of the revision in the light of these debates. We analyse different versions of the revision as well as the amendments proposed during the two-year negotiation period. Through this perspective, we compare the position of different actors with the result of the negotiations. The ultimate aim of this contribution is to produce a sociology of European actors and, simultaneously, a study of the results of their interaction.