Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-07-Speech-4-034"
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"en.20021107.2.4-034"2
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"Mr President, I too would like to congratulate the Earl of Stockton on the production of an excellent report and also Elspeth Attwooll for the very clear opinion she produced for the Employment Committee. I would also like to congratulate the Reverend Owen for the courage and determination he has shown in pressing his case this far. Those attributes, together with his communication, advocacy and other skills, really make me wonder why the Church of England wanted to terminate his services in the first place. I think he would be a considerable asset to any organisation and I hope they will think again.
There is no doubt in my mind that he has been given a raw deal. Either he had an employment relationship with the Church of England – in which case he would have had the protection of well-established procedures in UK employment law – or he was an office-holder who should have had the protection of the Church of England's own code of recommended practice, including the right of appeal. He seems to have fallen completely between these two stools and therefore a real injustice has been done.
It is in that context that we need to read paragraph 2 of the Earl of Stockton's report, where it mentions an unacceptable situation in terms of the spirit of Article 136 of the Treaty of Rome, Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms on the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent, impartial tribunal, and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is quite right to underline those references.
There are broader implications arising from this case, as Jean Lambert has said. There are increasing numbers of workers right across the European Union who find themselves totally dependent upon one source of income but who are not regarded in their national law as having an employment relationship. These quasi-forms of independence and self-employment are spreading. We have been working with the Commission on this for some time and most recently in relation to the latest review of the insolvency directive. The Commission has commissioned a study as a result of our work on that review and it has also committed itself to holding a joint hearing with the Employment Committee to seek to establish common definitions. Without such definitions, it is increasingly clear that larger numbers of workers will find themselves outside the protection of the law. We need to establish definitions which will apply across the European Union.
Finally, I would like to echo the sentiments of other Members in expressing the sincere hope that even at this late hour all of the parties involved in this dispute can get back around the table and, in a Christian manner, right the wrong which has been done to the Reverend Owen."@en1
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