EU Parliament, work to say stop to free internships restarted

Brussels – After four months of “complex negotiations,” the process that should lead, by July, the entire EU Parliament to express itself on the proposal for quality internships put forward by the European Commission more than a year ago is unblocked. The small step was taken in the Culture Committee, where the opinion on the directive was approved. The opinion was drafted by Dem Nicola Zingaretti, who promises, “We will not stop. Internships must be an opportunity for growth, not exploitation.”

Some crucial points were set in the text, which will help form the position on which the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is working. The former secretary of the Democratic Party explained in a note that internships will have to “be regulated by a written and paid contract, have a defined duration, concrete training content, and real consistency between the tasks performed and the training course.” Criteria that the European Parliament had already indicated in June 2023, when it adopted a resolution urging the EU executive to propose a directive to establish minimum quality standards for the more than four million young Europeans who gain at least one work experience as trainees each year. About 60 per cent do so for free.

The proposal put on the table by the former EU Commissioner for Labour, the social democrat Nicolas Schmit, followed its guidelines, establishing the general principle that a trainee is equal to a worker and, therefore, entitled to remuneration, union representation, and social protection. The EU executive did not include the imposition of a minimum wage for trainees, leaving this to individual member states. Schmit went on to suggest that an internship should last no longer than six months—except in cases “based on objective reasons”—and that national authorities should guard against undeclared work and inspect employers.

This last aspect was also reiterated by the Culture Committee of the EU Parliament: “We have also asked member states to take concrete measures to monitor and fight against abuse on internships, ensure fair access, especially for those who start from disadvantaged conditions, ensure social protection, security, and welfare for interns, and define a time limit indicating the maximum, i.e. not excessive, duration of an internship,” Zingaretti continued.

According to Benedetta Scuderi, a Green MEP and shadow rapporteur of the measure in both relevant committees, today’s vote is a “first positive signal,” ahead of decisive passage in the Social Affairs Committee. The priority goal is “the elimination of unpaid internships,” a red line the Parliament does not want to give up. The other “crucial nodes” indicated by Scuderi will be “the duration of internships, which for us must not exceed six months, and then the question regarding the definition of remuneration.”

Compared to June 2023, when the EU Parliament clamoured—404 votes in favour, 78 against and 130 abstentions—for introducing decisive measures to protect trainees, the numbers in the chamber have changed. There is a risk that the European Parliament itself—now decidedly more right-wing—will water down the regulations requested two years ago. However, the real obstacle is the other co-legislator, the Council of the European Union.

Member countries have already postponed agreement on the European Commission’s proposal several times. Most recently, in December, when the then Hungarian rotating presidency proposed, after five unsuccessful attempts, a downward compromise that—as the executive vice-president of the EU executive with responsibility for labour and skills, Roxana Minzatu said that day—“would distort the initial objectives of the Commission’s proposal.” The proposal was rejected, and the hot potato was handed over to the current EU Council presidency, held by Poland.

European sources confirm that work is still underway “at the technical level” to find a compromise among the states. The goal would be to adopt a negotiating position in June. At that point, if the EU Parliament also votes its own in July, interinstitutional negotiations to give final shape to the law can take place.