Today the Employment Committee in the European Parliament has formally requested the European Commission to provide the Parliament with a list of measures and policies that it has embarked on in its fight against precarious employment.

This Oral Question was pushed forward by the Head of the PN Delegation and EPP Group spokesperson on employment and social affairs, David Casa.

Mr Casa said:"What we are doing here is to put pressure on the European Commission to act swiftly against precarious work which includes zero hour contracts, bogus self-employment, sub-contracted and out-sourced work, undeclared, informal and irregular work. We are asking the Commission to identify the sectors and categories of workers who are severely affected by this fraud in broad daylight."

The EPP Group, unlike the Socialists and others, wants clarity between different types of contracts such as temporary contracts, part time contracts, seasonal work, subcontracted and precarious employment.

"For us, seasonal work, such as students working in summer, is not precarious work. However, let's not fool ourselves, precarious work is not just prevalent on the continent. It is actually mushrooming in Malta and this Labour government has to do something about it."

"As MEPs, we will continue pressing the European Commission to provide us with a detailed overview of the current situation of, and trends in, precarious forms of employment which could arise from different employment contracts. And more importantly, we need to know more from the Commission, as the Guardian of the treaties, about the degree of implementation of the EU labour directives related to this particular issue - the directive on part-time work, on fixed-term contracts, on temporary agency work - in the Member States," concluded Mr Casa.