Reacting to the European Commission guidelines on a European agenda for the collaborative economy, published in June 2016, the CoR plenary adopted today the draft opinion on ‘Collaborative economy and online platforms: a shared view of cities and regions’ by PES member Benedetta Brighenti, deputy mayor of the municipality of Castelnuovo Rangone (Italy).
"The sharing economy offers great opportunities for cities and regions. However, if we want to shape the sector's future at grassroots level to the benefit of our citizens, we need to tackle the persisting legal uncertainties in a coordinated way and at EU level, instead of dealing with them on a case-by-case basis," stressed Brighenti.
"Compared to other countries, Europe is falling behind in this innovative sector and risks fragmentation, both between and within Member States. The aim here is not to regulate what is already regulated, but to build a new single market for the collaborative economy", she emphasized.
Brighenti makes a series of concrete recommendations in her opinion, including:
- identify more accurately the social responsibilities of platforms towards their workers, in terms of working conditions, health care coverage, paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, pension rights, etc.
- identify thresholds for market access requirements of service providers as well as consumer protection rules;
- review the Services Directive, that is updating provisions and key definitions, such as the one of 'service provider';
- improve compliance by service providers with tax regulations, for example regarding the collection of tourist taxes;
- involve local and regional authorities in future assessments of the collaborative economy by setting up a forum of 'collaborative economy cities' to share experiences and exchange best practice.
Brighenti will continue to follow-up the topic with the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the topic, Nicola Danti (S&D). "Even though the Commission's Work Programme does not address this issue, we expect that from a European perspective, 2017 will be still more intense for the collaborative economy. The CoR will make its voice heard in the debate’, she concluded.
