Request for a preliminary ruling on the topic of collective redundancies

The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña has submitted the two following questions to the Court of Justice of the EU:

Is legislation such as the Spanish legislation 1 (Article 49(1)(e) of Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015 por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley del Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015 approving the consolidated text of the Law on the Workers’ Statute) of 23 October 2015), which does not establish a period of consultation in situations where contracts of employment in excess of the number laid down in Article 1 of that directive are terminated as a result of the retirement of the natural person employer, compatible with Article 2 of Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies?

If the answer to the preceding question is in the negative, does Directive 98/59 have direct horizontal effect between individuals?

For a summary of the request for a preliminary ruling, as well as a brief description of the facts, please see the document in attachment.