Slovenian businesses turn to Brussels over new Austrian law

More than 100 Slovenian companies doing business in Austria have appealed to the European Commission over legislative changes in Austria which they say will discriminate against foreign firms, local media reported on Wednesday.

The law firm representing Slovenian businesses complains that Austria's amendments to the law on the prevention of payment and social dumping which will come into force on Jan. 1 are not aimed at protecting workers, but at gradually squeezing Slovenian businesses out of the Austrian market.

Addressing reporters in Ljubljana on Wednesday, Roland Grilc from the law firm Grilc-Vouk-Skof said that the legislative changes were undermining the ideas of the single market, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported.

Slovenian craftsmen and businesses providing services in Austria have difficulties in doing business there even now, and the amendments will make their work even harder, he said.

This is why the law firm offered their clients to join a class complaint to be filed with the European Commission. In just over a fortnight, 117 complainants joined and new queries keep coming in, the STA report said.

According to Grilc, direct appeal with the European Court of Justice is not possible, which is why they will try to internationalize the problem through the EU Pilot scheme.

The scheme enables individuals to file an initiative with the Commission when they believe their rights stemming from EU law are violated, but high costs make individual complaints difficult, said Grilc's colleague Maria skof. Endit