Lithuania improves its ranking from the 21st to 16th in the Heritage Foundation’s 2020 Index of Economic Freedom. The country has regained its position from 2016 after four years of backsliding, the index shows.
Many labor market regulations were created with large mid-20th century manufacturing plants in mind – which is the spirit of the Polish Labor Code of 1974. However, along with the process of industrial automation as well as the growth of employment in services, the economic reality has changed.
Under EU legislation, Member States are required to abolish any legal provisions contrary to the principle of equal treatment and have to introduce measures that would facilitate getting legal remedies in cases of alleged violations of equal treatment.
Lithuania’s new Labor Code that was supposed to be flexible in balancing employee-employer interests is to take effect as of 1 July 2017. It was already approved by the previous government, but vetoed by the President. Therefore, its entry into force was postponed and so began the process of its improvement.
On September 14, 2016, the Lithuanian Parliament endorsed a new Labour Code which will bring about the most notable changes in terms of types of employment contracts, working time and overtime regulation, annual leave, employee dismissal procedures, and the size of severance pay.
49% of Lithuanian citizens see labor legislation as the means of achieving balance between employee-employer interests while 33% claim that it is an employee and 7% that it is an employer who should be defended by labor laws, LFMI’s survey shows.
The sigh in the title refers to my experiences from my trip to Brussels back in March and to Paris in April. More specifically it takes me back to a Paris restaurant, Paris streets and to Brussels meeting rooms. Even though they took place in different environment, they are a perfect display of the current state of Europe.
