World
EU law on platform workers gets new chance to survive
Member states have given a new chance to the Platform Workers Directive, whose survival hangs by a thread.
Ambassadors to the EU agreed on Friday to a revised mandate, which enables the Council, represented by Belgium, to head back to negotiations with the European Parliament.
The face-to-face talks are expected to take place as early as next Tuesday in a race against the clock before the legislative cycle grinds to an absolute halt in anticipation of the upcoming EU elections to be held 6-9 June.
The road, however, is not yet clear: according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, during Friday’s discussions, six member states either opposed the revised mandate or abstained, suggesting resistance to the directive is still well entrenched.
The draft law, unveiled in late 2021, is designed to improve the working conditions of those who service popular daily apps such as Uber, Deliveroo and Glovo, who are often treated as self-employed despite being under rules similar to regular employees.
The text’s centrepiece is a novel system of legal presumption that would readjust the status of platform workers if they meet a certain number of criteria, or conditions, in their day-to-day businesses, such as being forbidden from servicing a competitor app or being compelled to follow norms on appearance, conduct and performance.
Brussels estimates that about 5.5 million of the 28 million platform workers currently active in the European Union are misclassified and would therefore fall under the legal presumption. Doing so would make them entitled to rights like minimum wage, collective bargaining, work-time limits, health insurance, sick leave, unemployment benefits and retirement pensions – on par with any other regular worker.
Since the presentation of the directive, the legal presumption has come under intense scrutiny, not only by the platforms themselves, who fear ballooning costs to accommodate the updated status, but from liberal and right-wing governments wary of increasing administrative burden and slowing down the so-called Gig Economy.
Member states spent months trying to converge their diverging viewpoints and agreed on a common mandate in June last year, which added a provision to grant national authorities the “discretion of not applying the presumption” in certain cases.
The Parliament, by contrast, opted for a maximalist, workers-friendly position that made it harder for platforms to circumvent the legal presumption, strengthened the transparency requirements on algorithms and ramped up penalties for non-compliance.
The deep gap between the two institutions bogged down negotiations. It took six rounds of negotiations, a particularly high number, until a deal was reached in mid-December.
But while lawmakers cheered on the breakthrough, a rebellion erupted in the Council.
A larger-than-expected group of countries, including France, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece, Finland, Sweden and the three Baltic states, made it clear they could not support the new text, as they believed Spain, then holder of the rotating presidency, had drifted too far from the June mandate. Germany, the bloc’s most powerful state, kept silent, an attitude interpreted as a prelude to an abstention.
The last-minute opposition threw the entire process into disarray and raised serious doubts about whether the law would survive or fall apart.
Due to the upcoming elections to the Parliament, all interinstitutional negotiations have to conclude by mid-February. Those who fail to make it past the deadline are condemned to limbo and might very well be forgotten once the legislative cycle restarts in September.
Belgium, the current holder of the rotating presidency, strove to rescue the directive before it was too late and drafted a new compromise to bring all member states on board. The text, which ambassadors approved on Friday, mostly reverts to the June mandate, meaning the Council is back to where it once was.
However, the fact that the opposing countries lifted their resistance on Friday does not automatically mean they will consent to the outcome of the fresh round of negotiations. A diplomat from one of the hesitant states told Euronews the go-ahead came with “slight caution” attached and that Belgium should be careful “not to go too far.”
new video loaded: Landslide in Sicily Leaves Homes Teetering on Edge
By Monika Cvorak and Meg Felling
January 28, 2026
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
As the United States experiences negative net migration due to President Donald Trump policies, Spain is heading in the opposite direction, announcing plans to grant legal status for up to half a million illegal migrants.
Spain’s Socialist-led government approved a royal decree on Tuesday, allowing unauthorized immigrants who entered the country before the end of 2025 and who have lived there for at least five months and have no criminal record to obtain one-year residency and work permits with possible pathways to citizenship.
While many European governments have moved to tighten immigration policies — some encouraged by the Trump administration’s hardline approach — Spain has taken a different path. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his ministers have repeatedly highlighted what they describe as the economic benefits of legal migration, particularly for the country’s aging workforce.
WHITE HOUSE ROADMAP SAYS EUROPE MAY BE ‘UNRECOGNIZABLE’ IN 20 YEARS AS MIGRATION RAISES DOUBTS ABOUT US ALLIES
Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance María Jesús Montero and second Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz at the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, Spain, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Spain “will not look the other way,” Migration Minister Elma Saiz told reporters at a news conference, saying the government is “dignifying and recognizing people who are already in our country.”
The plan has sparked a fierce political battle, as conservatives and the populist Vox party have condemned what they describe as an amnesty that could fuel irregular migration.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal wrote on social media that the measure “harms all Spaniards,” arguing critics of his party are motivated by fear of Vox’s growing influence.
“They are not worried about the consequences of Sánchez’s criminal policies,” Abascal wrote. “They are worried that Vox will gain more strength.”
Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that “Spain’s decision appears calculated to increase the lure of Europe as a destination for illegal migrants in general, causing problems for all of its neighbors.
“If Spain wishes to become a repository for such people, then I’m sure other European countries would appreciate signing agreements to transfer their own illegal migrants there. Absent this, we will all be paying the price for Spanish largesse.”
TRUMP SAYS HUNGARY’S BORDER STANCE KEEPS CRIME DOWN, SAYS EUROPE ‘FLOODING’ WITH MIGRANTS
A migrant walks by a makeshift settlement where migrants evicted from a former high school were camping outdoors in the middle of winter in Badalona, Spain, Dec. 26, 2025. (Bruna Casas/Reuters)
Ricard Zapata-Barrero, a political science professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, told Fox News Digital, “This is not a symbolic gesture. It is a direct challenge to the dominant European approach, which treats irregular migration primarily as a policing issue. Spain, instead, frames it as a governance problem, one that requires institutional capacity, legal pathways and administrative realism rather than more detention centers and externalized borders.”
Migrants in Madrid, Spain, April 9, 2024. (Francesco Militello Mirto/Nur Photo via Getty Images)
He said Spain’s immigration system had been showing signs of strain for years.
“When hundreds of thousands of people live in irregularity for years, the issue stops being an individual failure and becomes a structural one,” Zapata-Barrero said. “In this context, regularization is not leniency — it is governability.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Migrants wait to disembark at the Port of Arguineguin after being rescued by a Spanish Coast Guard vessel on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, Nov. 14, 2025. (Borja Suarez/Reuters)
“In a Europe closing in on itself, Spain has taken a step that sets it apart — not because it is ‘softer,’ but because it is more pragmatic,” he added. “Whether this becomes a model or a counter-model inside the EU remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Spain has launched a political experiment that Europe will watch closely.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on
What are the pros and cons of the EU-Mercosur trade deal? Why did the European Parliament send the text to the Court of Justice for clarification? Why did the EU sign an EU-India trade deal this week, and how will it impact you?
Some of the questions we pose on our latest episode of The Ring – Euronews’ weekly debating show, brought to you from the European Parliament studio in Brussels.
Irish MEP Ciaran Mullooly from Renew Europe and Swedish MEP Jörgen Warborn from the European People’s Party have a heated debate about their interpretation of the deal that was signed in Paraguay recently, after over two decades of negotiations.
Supporters of the deal say it shows the EU is open for business and can act decisively in a world of turmoil and geopolitical competition. Jörgen Warborn argues new trade deals are essential for growth, diversification, and global influence.
Critics of the pact fear low standards in food safety and inadequate support for European farmers. Ciaran Mullooly worries about farmers being undermined, environmental standards and public trust being eroded.
This episode of The Ring is anchored by Méabh Mc Mahon, produced by Luis Albertos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Zacharia Vigneron.
Watch The Ring on Euronews TV or in the player above and send us your views by writing to thering@euronews.com
Man in Wisconsin arrested after traffic stop leads officers to find marijuana in his underwear
W.Va. DOH provides timeline for deck replacement of Charleston’s Fort Hill Bridge
Wyoming Is Growing… Older, Not Faster
Exclusive: White House set to meet with banks, crypto companies to broker legislation compromise
Fake ‘ghost students’ stealing identities and financial aid money
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Video: Their Mother Was Detained. Now a Minneapolis Family Lives in Fear.
Trump return to Iowa likely ahead of high-stakes midterms, GOP gubernatorial candidate says
Free trade or fair play? MEPs go head-to-head on Mercosur in The Ring
The FBI conducts a search at the Fulton County election office in Georgia
Graham pushes back on Tillis’ criticism of Noem, Miller for labeling man killed by Border Patrol a ‘terrorist’
-
Illinois6 days agoIllinois school closings tomorrow: How to check if your school is closed due to extreme cold
-
Pittsburg, PA1 week agoSean McDermott Should Be Steelers Next Head Coach
-
Pennsylvania2 days agoRare ‘avalanche’ blocks Pennsylvania road during major snowstorm
-
Lifestyle1 week agoNick Fuentes & Andrew Tate Party to Kanye’s Banned ‘Heil Hitler’
-
Sports1 week agoMiami star throws punch at Indiana player after national championship loss
-
Cleveland, OH1 week agoNortheast Ohio cities dealing with rock salt shortage during peak of winter season
-
Technology6 days agoRing claims it’s not giving ICE access to its cameras
-
Science1 week agoContributor: New food pyramid is a recipe for health disasters