Encouraging European Parliament vote to enter trilogues on a traineeships directive

In contrast to the legislative proposal by the European Commission - and the Council's General Approach on it - the European Parliament's position argues in favour of written agreements for trainees which fix the "the pay, in accordance with national law, collective agreements or practice." A pay component reflects a key priority of CESI Youth.

CESI Youth is satisfied that, moreover, the European Parliament report explicitly asks for traineeships to entail written specifications on the duration and training objectives, access to social protection in accordance with national schemes, health and safety measures, and the inclusion of people with disabilities and structural disadvantages, as well as the recognition of periods designed to acquire skills in future retirement schemes.

The European Parliament underlined that unpaid internships often mean precarious, abusive practices with hampered access to social protection. Therefore, it wants all kinds of traineeships to be included within the scope of the directive, except those that are mandatory in education schemes to obtain academic credits.

While negotiations on a final wording of the directive are yet to start between European Parliament and the Council are still to come, the European Parliament's positioning is a strong signal in favour of a better protection of trainees.

CESI Youth will continue to advocate for quality and anti-abuse provisions for trainees in Europe.

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