Glenis Willmott questions Danish Health Minister and welcomes Danish Presidency

Glenis Willmott, Labour’s Leader in Europe and MEP for the East Midlands, questions acting Danish Health Minister, Pia Olsen Dyhr, in the European Parliament on the Danish Presidency’s plans for the EU Health for Growth programme, diabetes and tobacco. 

Free movement of workers must serve to improve people’s lives

As the rotating Presidency of the European Union fell to Denmark earlier this month, Danish ministers have been speaking to MEPs in their various Committees to set out their agenda for the next six months.

Today, I was pleased to be able to ask the acting Danish Health Minister, Pia Olsen Dyhr, questions on a range of topics – including the Commission’s Health for Growth programme, diabetes, and tobacco products. The Danish team has put health issues right at the top of their list of priorities, and I am looking forward to being able to work with them.

I was also delighted that Denmark’s Social-Democratic Government has picked out the Posted Workers Directive as one of their priorities on the employment agenda. As the Danish Employment minister, Mette Frederiksen, told MEPs today, free movement of people throughout the European Union is an asset – not only a stimulus to the economy, but also an important right that we enjoy as individuals.

But at the same time, she went on, free movement is worthless if it is not combined with decent working conditions. If free movement is allowed to become a source of insecurity and put established terms and conditions at risk, it will hardly be surprising if people become hostile to it.

‘Posted’ workers are workers who are posted temporarily from one EU Member State to work in another. When first passed in 1999, the Posted Workers Directive was meant to ensure that they were covered by the same minimum legal standards as local permanent workers, on minimum pay, rest periods, safety and other conditions. Not only did that protect the posted worker, but it also prevented local workers from unfair competition, which could undermine their pay and conditions.

But since 1999, a series of judgements from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have undermined the Directive, putting the freedom of the Single Market above the interests of working people. In one infamous case, in which a Latvian company used Latvian workers to build a school in Sweden, the Court ruled that the posted workers did not need to take part in local collective bargaining agreements. That undermined the rights of Swedish workers, and they were understandably angry.

The strikes at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in 2009 also highlighted how strongly people in the UK feel about the movement of workers and how this affects their working conditions – and how wrong the current legislation is getting it.

The Danish Presidency is right to say that when the revision of the Directive is published, not all expectations can be met, and we will need to find a common ground. But what we must all agree on is that the Single Market is not an end in itself, but it exists to improve the lives of people in Europe. Without this principle, it is worthless.

No ban on MRI scanners but health workers to get protection

Medical staff will not be prevented from using MRI scanners, but will benefit from other protections, a key European Parliament committee made it clear in Brussels this week.

Glenis Willmott confirmed that, despite eurosceptic scare stories, the use of MRI scanners would not be banned under new rules relating to electro-magnetic fields voted by the Parliament’s Environment Committee today.

Leading on the issue for her political group, the Socialists & Democrats, Glenis explained: “There have been a number of stories in some of the British newspapers that the rules agreed in 2008 would effectively ban the use of MRI machines because medical staff would not be allowed near enough to the machines to operate them properly.”

“MRI is absolutely vital for diagnosing and treating many diseases, as well as being important for research purposes.  It is much safer than x-rays and the amount of radiation is already strictly controlled.  Workers need to be able to get close to the source of radiation to assist children and other vulnerable patients inside the machines.

“For this reason, MEPs proposed exempting MRI workers from the maximum exposure limits so as to allow current practices to continue.

“However, it is very important that people working with the machines are properly protected.   Employers will therefore have to carry out risk assessments, workers will have to be properly informed about the short term effects of electro-magnetic fields, and they will have the right to medical surveillance.

“Almost everyone is exposed to some level of electro-magnetic radiation; it is emitted from mobile phones, computers and other electrical equipment.  However, some jobs bring more exposure than others, with welders, for example, being exposed to a lot.  We have to therefore make sure there are sensible provisions to stop accidents in the workplace – electro-magnetic radiation can make you dizzy so a welder shouldn’t be put up a ladder, for example.

“People are understandably worried about the possible long term effects of electro-magnetic fields, and there are often stories about the effects of mobile phones, power masts and so on.  We have therefore asked for more research into possible long term effects, and if anything new comes to light we have asked for an immediate revision of these new rules.

MEP welcomes action for a safer East Midlands

Glenis Willmott has welcomed new Euro-wide action aimed at protecting human health and the environment, agreed by MEPs last week in the European Parliament.

“All parts of Europe, from Nottingham to Nantes, will be safer as a result of these new rules.” Said the East Midlands Euro MP.

“Biocides” – ranging from rat poisons to disinfectants – will now be subject to tougher safety checks, following a vote in Strasbourg on Thursday.   The updated rules aim to better protect human health and the environment, while streamlining the process of bringing new products on to the market.

Mrs Willmott, a member of the Environment and Public Health Committee responsible for the detailed discussion of the package, said: “We believe we have found the right balance to improve both safety checks and the approval process.  As a consequence we will all have access to new pest control products that are safe and effective.”

“We’ve closed certain loopholes that existed before, have banned carcinogenic and other dangerous substances, and recognised possible new threats caused by, for example, the use of nanotechnology.”

23 Jan 2012