EU plans to end bogus internships — but not ban unpaid ones

The European Commission on Wednesday (20 March) proposed a new package to improve the rights of trainees, including a directive to tackle bogus internships — but not a ban on unpaid internships.

According to the latest reliable data available, there were 3.1 million trainees in the EU in 2019 — almost half of them unpaid.

“This directive says very clearly that there should not be an abuse of traineeships through some kind of disguised work,” EU commissioner for jobs Nicolas Schmit told reporters in Brussels, as these experiences are meant to serve only as a bridge into the labour market for inexperienced young people.

“And that’s why trainees have to be paid decently, fairly, according to the rules, collective agreements, minimum wages,” he added.

To date, the EU only relied on non-binding legislation to set principles to ensure quality traineeships for young people, and the most recent recommendation is already 10 years old.

On Wednesday, the EU executive updated the 2014 council recommendation and introduced the first legislation on the topic, which includes the principle that trainees have to be paid.

However, the main focus of the directive is to ensure that traineeships are not used to disguise regular jobs, and the commission is putting the ball in the court of national labour authorities to detect such cases through inspections and controls.