(Videorozhovor) B. Ondruš: Priniesť 150 000 Uzbekov na náš pracovný trh je naivná predstava o riešení problémov

Commissioner Ondruš the EU's new financial framework for 2028 to 2034 is designed to respond to the evolving labor market Which spending priorities in your opinion should clearly be directed toward supporting employment and retraining In my opinion above all else we must do everything possible to ensure the ESP is not lost TEDA has this specific fund where money is designated exclusively for the social development of individual member countries raining such as education requalification and the like As for what we should receive from European funds in this area f we're talking about financing the labor market I think it should primarily be abou In the broadest sense support for quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning Secondly essentially assuming that this would affect the entire society eir social integration into the mainstream society Here these include Roma people as well as individuals with health disadvantages and similar groups The third investment aims to support housing affordability I am not saying that housing construction must necessarily be directly funded from European sources we could have discussed this matter but I definitely Affordable housing for everyone remains a major challenge With regard to employment opportunities for people this concerns the entire Europe not just Slovakia Slovakia is facing a departure of both foreign investors and domestic employers Do you see this as a distortion of national policy or as a problem Should the European Union also address this I don't think we're actually facing some kind of mass exodus of investors whether entrepreneurs or even domestic business owners I believe tha It is incorrect to interpret the market's development in this way I certainly notice those subtle movements like something closing up or similar Look at what he's facing in Western Europe Audi plans to close its entire large factory in Belgium Thus this is something that the entire Europe faces This is therefore related to what we refer to as the competitiveness of the European economy In my opinion however the solution is not to strengthen or rather it is not merely about strengthening global competitiveness because it needs to be said that many global players are becoming eir competitiveness based on such principles f working conditions are poor and people are inadequately compensated We'll call it opening ruthless destruction of the environment and the like Simply put we aim to strengthen our competitiveness against these rivals We'd have to do the same thing and this is the path to hell So I think we should partly talk about whether and also strengthen our global competitiveness In my opinion we need to strengthen our resilience much more the face of this global economic shift For example by focusing more on the model of economic grow Based on self-consumption let's call it that For example we should more strongly support in a simple way o ensure European producers are not dependent on exports outside the EU so they could successfully place their products on the European market Yes of course I understand that this is at odds with such simplicity eoretical neoliberal economic principles and I simply think we should be completely open about Promote this slogan: Buy European let's shop European We simply need to strengthen our internal market Mali be completely open for example in public procureme enable all public procurers including the most remote village purchase mainly household products Minimal areas accessible for food supply agriculture handicrafts etc So I think that if we want to help the European economy I think we should help him in what we're strongest at in the world Our greatest strength lies in the power of our market We are the world's largest integrated market Not only in terms of number of people but also in terms of consumption Given that why not support our European manufacturers so that they could profit from it—specifically by selling primarily here in Europe so as not to be dependent on business partners worldwide Note that it is now completely clear that global trade It faces enormous challenges and confronts significant risks So let's reduce those risks by making European producers more competitive less dependent on international trade Prime Minister Fico stated that Slovakia is interested in 150 000 workers from Uzbekistan Isn't it counterproductive to bring them to Slovakia at a time when Slovaks themselves are losing jobs I have to admit I didn’t even catch that announcement by the prime minister I don't think the labor market situation can possibly be resolved so simply Integrating foreigners into our society I would say is a multidimensional problem and simply saying that we'll solve some issue here bringing in 150 000 Uzbeks is an utterly naive idea Simply put if it's already supposed to exist here then of course it should exist here workforce mobility of people including beyond the European Union Therefore it must be a strategically planned and strategically managed process Not just some random thing that shows up here I don't believe that solving the problems of the Slovak labor market lies It exclusively refers to the importation of labor into Slovakia from third countries quoted in the text And personally I believe we still have significant potential here both in terms of workforce and resources and we simply must take precautions at home to protect as many people as possible ose who live here who are born here and who grow up here o be properly qualified and to establish the necessary conditions prior to this so they could be properly employed here so that they can work and live normally here On this topic I'd like to ask one more question The arrival of cheap labor from Central Asia Or does it overall mean the importation of low wages from third countries into the Slovak labor market It is quite clear that this is one of the risks I reject this approach for I must say that employers in Slovakia are very eager to argue They need skilled workers whom they cannot find in Slovakia Take a look at the qualification structure of those coming to Slovakia from third countries The qualification is roughly equivalent to a level between primary and secondary school we'll call it incomplete secondary education so it's not true I trust employers They also lack higher or highly skilled labor But it's not true that by increasing those quotas We have no direct working relationship with third countries which is how we're addressing this issue These companies import such people for example from parts of Asia or from the Balkans and so on In reality they are relegated to entirely low-skilled positions positions so undoubtedly I am therefore a fairly staunch opponent of opening the market to foreigners because practice shows that they mostly arrive as I said low-skilled people performing low-skilled wor manual labor that is low-skilled wor the end they represent a highly unfair and distorting competitive advantage domestic employees and the companies themselves essentially just replace them low-paid Slovak employees who are dissatisfied and in fact are not increasing the number or the ratio of high-quality jobs Minimum wage legislation falls within the competence of member states Where do you think the boundary lies between social protection at the level of e European Union and the sovereignty of national governments I think this question has been answered very clearly for us e European Union's sudden court decision which clearly ruled just days ago Which two provisions of the Smednice regarding minimum distances are in conflict with the authority of the European Union and thus in these two provisions The European Union has exceeded its competences so everything that remains is within the competence of the member states In other words we have received a clear response at mechanism or rather that formula according to which we determine The EU can never dictate to us but that remains unchanged within the competence of the member states On the other hand however the European Court of Justice He stated that it falls within the competence of the European Union for us to harmonize working conditions of people And that's why for example he said at the goal of this Smednica is to achieve 80-percent coverage of employees Collective agreements comply with European law And personally I strive to be involved precisely in that both here and in Slovakia o significantly increase the coverage of Slovak employees collective agreements because we also in Slovakia have clear ones research findings showing that where trade unions function Most people earn about 20 to 23 percent more From this perspective it's straightforward The existence of trade unions existence of collective bargaining and signing of collective agreements is clearly a good tool for enabling us to do so without any interference Better-paid jobs in Slovakia have been achieved through European legislation For instance I was part of the activities this year several Members of the European Parliament they wish to reac as part of the new public procurement rules which will take effect roughly halfway through the year e European Commission may present it at the beginning of the second half of the year The rule is that no company may obtain a public contract f it does not have a collective agreement signed or if its employees They are not covered by a collective agreement for example at the wage level Simply put public procurement is spending tax money people who are subject to these rules are entirely justified in demanding so that the funds reached companies that were fair or even went above and beyond reat their employees with respect So I think at we should adopt this principle as soon as possible truly enforcing public prohibitions e more those who demonstrably precisely through that collective agreeme It's very easy to demonstrate how much better they care for their employees compared to others a there is greater certainty there that funds from public sources e company's profit was divided between the company's earnings and wages or better working conditions for those employees Critics and reports from employer organizations claim at a higher minimum wage harms employers from Slovakia's less economically developed regions At the same time they highlight the fact that Slovakia has one of the highes e tax and social security burden of employment in the EU meaning at while Slovaks earn more than Czechs on average in reality their net income is lower Keep it lower since more must be paid to the government Wouldn't it be appropriate to reduce these taxes A comparison of one criterion pulled out of contex In principle the Czech Republic which you just mentioned would be sitting on it And that's extremely unfair because what we must condemn is e overall tax and social security burden and if we look for example What is the share of tax and social security contributions in the gross domestic product That way we'll see we're in the bottom third even lower than the bottom quarter of European countries So from this perspective it is not true at our tax and contribution burden represents such a demotivating factor And I personally recently published several proposals How to reform the tax system in Slovakia I also don't consider it fair and I must point out that for example in countries where the tax burden is already high Now I'll take only this page where the load-bearing capacity is higher They may have a different social security system It is more heavily dependent on state co-financing Moreover it should be noted that those countries have higher wages or higher taxation on high incomes both personal and corporate both collective and individual that is private This means I'm in favor of making such a change such a tax reform e tax and contribution reform which could partially reduce on drainage loading I think yes but at the same time it should be noted tha at this approach would require increasing taxes in other areas especially regarding large assets high incomes and corporate taxes So or rather in the case of corporate taxes We don't need to talk about raising it but rather about greater fairness when determining the tax base for example or for example the implementation of so-called balancing taxes This means foreign companies that manufacture and develop eir profits in Slovakia most of which they declared here ot where their parent companies are headquartered So yes this should be discussed and I can also provide that for you Yes I've just released the material I've been working on for half a year I compared how property wealth and capital are taxed in particular other countries of the European Union Teda this comparison was provided by one very recent study It was developed and published last year I've spoken with several experts including macroeconomists or an expert in taxes and I submitted a proposal my opinion compared to the European Union What we could learn and transfer from the European Union in the tax and customs field Final question If you were to name one critical mistake which the European Union should never have allowed during the labor market reform In the coming years what do you think No worsening the employees' position and at the same time another way I'd say the worsening of workers' conditions That's exactly what he told me I think this is a major mistake because it discourages people from being actively and dynamically engaged in the market be loyal to the person I work for and be as productive as possible To clarify the proportion of people rapidly increasing among us is noteworthy ose working in so-called non-standard forms of employment These are all sorts of freelancers contractors self-employed individuals and the like who carry enormous loads on their shoulders e risks associated with job performance And I believe this is a very dangerous trend ot only in Slovakia but across all of Europe Today we can already see many negative consequences of this trend for example on demographic trends not just in Slovakia but across Europe So if I had to pick one critical moment in the European Union In light of the labor market that's my opinion worsening working conditions under which workers perform that job It concerns not only the individual but also the employees' own positions and if I said so particularly expansions of such work routines whose workers lack social and labor protection in that sector Thank you very much for the interview Thank you