Czech presidency of the Council of the EU: expectations and asks

At HOTREC 84th General Assembly in Prague, Czech Vice Minister for Regional Development, Mr Ondrej Profant, presented his country’s priorities for the EU Presidency relevant to hospitality. It includes reaching a level playing field for the sector and boosting the green and digital transition for tourism. Minister Profant reminded us that hospitality provides jobs and growth but was being impacted by rising energy and food prices.

Although we haven’t yet seen the Presidency’s working programme, we hope to see progress on the tourism pathways to help the recovery and transition of the tourism sector as well as the development of the European Commission’s initiative on Short-Term Rentals.

By and large, we anticipate the lifting of all travel restrictions, allowing international travellers to come to Europe again.

In addition, on Social Affairs, we call for the proposal for a Directive on Minimum wages to respect the well-established collective bargaining, as well as national statutory systems. We also hope that the proposal for a Directive on Pay Transparency protects SMEs and micro-enterprises from extra administrative burdens. On Platform work, we would welcome indicative EU criteria – not mandatory – in order to avoid any interference with labour status at the national level.