World

EU law on platform workers gets new chance to survive

Published

2 years ago

January 28, 2024

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.”

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World

Venezuela releases all known American detainees after Maduro’s capture and government takeover

Published

4 hours ago

January 31, 2026

Press Room

Venezuela releases all known American detainees after Maduro’s capture and government takeover

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All known American citizens being held in Venezuela have been released, the U.S. Embassy said Friday evening.

“We are pleased to confirm the release by the interim authorities of all known U.S. citizens held in Venezuela,” the embassy wrote on X. “Should you have information regarding any other U.S. citizens still detained, please contact American Citizen Services.”

No other details about the detainees were disclosed. Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department.

VENEZUELA’S DELCY RODRÍGUEZ SNAPS AT WASHINGTON, DECLARES ‘ENOUGH’ OF US INFLUENCE

Venezuelans burn a U.S. flag after the announcement of the U.S. attacks and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. government on Friday said all known Americans being detained in the country had been released. (Stringer/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Interim authorities have slowly released American detainees in the weeks since the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Both are being held in New York City on federal narco-terrorism charges.

Earlier this month, Venezuela’s interim government reported that 116 prisoners had been released, although only about 70 have been verified by the non-governmental organization Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón, according to Bloomberg.

STATE DEPT CONFIRMS ‘LIMITED NUMBER’ OF PERSONNEL IN CARACAS WORKING TO RESUME VENEZUELA DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores parade in a military vehicle during celebrations for Independence Day in Caracas July 5, 2025. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier this month, the U.S. government announced a travel alert advising against travel to the country. Americans in the country were advised to depart immediately.

“The security situation in Venezuela remains fluid. The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, warns U.S. citizens not to travel to Venezuela, reiterating warnings against travel to Venezuela dating to 2019. As international flights have resumed, U.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately.”

The country is being run by Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former lieutenant.

This week, Rodriguez signed a law overhauling the nation’s oil sector, opening it to privatization and reversing a core policy of the socialist government that has ruled Venezuela for more than two decades.

The State Department told Fox News a “limited number” of people are working on the ground in Venezuela. (Reuters)

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On Jan. 10, President Donald Trump said American energy companies will invest $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela’s “rotting” oil infrastructure and push production to record levels.

World

Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinians across Gaza, attacks reported in Rafah

Published

5 hours ago

January 31, 2026

Press Room

Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinians across Gaza, attacks reported in Rafah

Multiple attacks across the besieged enclave a day before Israel is expected to reopen the Rafah border crossing.

Published On 31 Jan 2026

At least 12 Palestinians, half of them children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since dawn, a day before the Rafah crossing is due to reopen.

An Israeli air strike on Saturday on a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Mawasi area to the northwest of Khan Younis city killed at least seven Palestinians, including three children, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Rafah reopening

Residents in the border town of Rafah also reported several air attacks in areas under Israeli control. Israel is due to reopen the Rafah crossing, which links Gaza with Egypt, on Sunday for the first time since May 2024.

The opening of the key entry point is part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. It was meant to open during the first phase of the ceasefire, but Israel refused to do so until the body of its last remaining captive was found.

Israel on Saturday said it would only allow a “limited movement of people” who have received security clearance by Israel to enter and exit. No aid or humanitarian supplies will be allowed to enter.

“Only those who fled during the past two years are allowed to come back,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud explained. “Those who are born outside the Gaza Strip are not going to be allowed to come back.”

Hamas responded to the Rafah announcement by calling for Israel to allow movement in and out of Gaza “without restrictions”, and urged it to adhere to all aspects of the ceasefire agreement.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 71,600 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

(Al Jazeera)

World

Video: Canada’s Prime Minister Meets ‘Heated Rivalry’ Star on Red Carpet

Published

15 hours ago

January 30, 2026

Press Room

Video: Canada’s Prime Minister Meets ‘Heated Rivalry’ Star on Red Carpet

new video loaded: Canada’s Prime Minister Meets ‘Heated Rivalry’ Star on Red Carpet

The actor Hudson Williams gave Prime Minister Mark Carney a fictional Canada Olympic Team fleece jacket that his character wore on “Heated Rivalry,” which has become a global phenomenon.

By Axel Boada

January 30, 2026