Threats to the status of volunteer firefighters
14.4.2021
Question for written answer E-002011/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Thierry Mariani (ID)
The status of volunteer firefighters is crucial to the protection of people and property in France, where some 80% of firefighting teams are made up of volunteers[1].
However, the European Union is seriously threatening that status.
As a result of the poor wording of Directive 2003/88/EC and in particular of its Article 17, the Court of Justice of the European Union interpreted part of the activities of volunteer firefighters, in its judgment in Case C-518/15, as working time.
On 30 January 2020, in reply to a question for written answer (E-003439/2019) from a French MEP, the Commission stated that: ‘At the present stage, the Commission does not intend to put forward a proposal for a directive specifically concerning volunteers in the security and civil protection services. The provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on social policy do not provide a legal basis to regulate the working time of those volunteers who do not meet the conditions to be considered as ‘workers’ under EC law[2].’
Given that firefighters have been in the front line of the COVID-19 crisis, will the Commission be revising its position?