Brussels, 31.03.2020 – Holger Kunze, Head of the VDMA European Office, comments on the Commission's recommendations for how the EU Member States should ensure the free movement of workers during the corona pandemic:

"Especially in times of closed borders in Europe, it is important that the EU Commission does everything possible to protect the internal market. The guidelines on free movement adopted by the Commission call on the EU Member States to give preferential treatment to posted workers with certain functions when crossing borders. These include engineering professions and similar skilled workers.

This is very good news for the mechanical engineering sector in Europe, as it should make cross-border work possible even during the Corona crisis, such as the maintenance and repair of machinery in other EU Member States. Now the Commission must ensure that the process is made easier in practice. It must provide standard forms which posted workers can use when travelling to other EU Member States and which are recognised by the EU Member States as soon as possible."

A photo of Holger Kunze, Head of VDMA European Office, can be found here.

The VDMA represents more than 3300 companies in the medium-sized mechanical and plant engineering sector. With a good 1.3 million employees in Germany and a turnover of 230 billion euros (2019), the sector is the largest industrial employer and one of the leading German industrial sectors overall.

Holger Paul

+49 69 66 03-1922

holger.paul@vdma.org

31 March 2020