Directive 2014/54 - Measures facilitating the exercise of rights conferred on workers in the context of freedom of movement for workers - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 128/8

The free movement of workers is a fundamental freedom of Union citizens and one of the pillars of the internal market in the Union enshrined in Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Its implementation is further developed by Union law aiming to guarantee the full exercise of rights conferred on Union citizens and the members of their family. ‘Members of their family’ should be understood as having the same meaning as the term defined in point (2) of Article 2 of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), which applies also to family members of frontier workers.

The free movement of workers is also a key element in the development of a genuine Union labour market, allowing workers to move to areas where there are labour shortages or more employment opportunities, helping more people find posts which are better suited to their skills and overcoming bottlenecks in the labour market.

The free movement of workers gives every citizen of the Union, irrespective of his or her place of residence, the right to move freely to another Member State in order to work there and/or to reside there for work purposes. It protects them against discrimination on grounds of nationality as regards access to employment, conditions of employment and work, in particular with regard to remuneration, dismissal, and tax and social advantages, by ensuring their equal treatment, under national law, practice and collective agreements, in comparison to nationals of that Member State. Such rights should be enjoyed without discrimination by all Union citizens exercising their right to free movement, including permanent, seasonal and frontier workers. The free movement of workers needs to be distinguished from the freedom to provide services, which includes the right of undertakings to provide services in another Member State, for which they may post their own workers to another Member State temporarily in order for them to carry out the work necessary to provide services in that Member State.

With respect to Union workers and members of their family exercising their right to free movement, Article 45 TFEU confers substantial rights for the exercise of this fundamental freedom, which are further specified in Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

The effective exercise of the freedom of movement of workers is, however, still a major challenge and many Union workers are very often unaware of their rights to free movement. Because of, inter alia, their potentially more vulnerable position, Union workers may still suffer from unjustified restrictions or obstacles to the exercise of their right to free movement, such as non-recognition of qualifications, discrimination on grounds of nationality and exploitation when they move to another Member State. There is, therefore, a gap between the law and its application in practice that needs to be addressed.

In July 2010,...