EU fails to reach compromise on working time

BRUSSELS - Talks between EU member states and MEPs on a directive that would limit the working week across the 27-nation bloc to 48 hours did not lead to an agreement on Thursday (2 April), reducing the chances of the legislation being adopted at all.

"An exhaustive round of negotiations between the EU member states and the European Parliament, which ended in the small hours of Thursday, did not result in an agreement on the five-year-old proposal," the Czech EU presidency said in a press release.

EU social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla said that the commission had done "its utmost to help both the European Parliament and the Council [the EU member states] reconcile the differences in their views."

"Although some minor issues were solved, no real movement was shown by either side to find a compromise on the key issues of the opt-out and on-call time," he added.

The new round of talks came after a previous one in March did not lead to any advance either.

The deadlock is due to several countries wanting to allow people to work longer than 48 hours a week, as well as to the difficulty of defining "on-call" working time.

It was due to the definition of working hours that the EU executive embarked on changing the working time rules in 2002, following several rulings by the bloc's Court of Justice stating that on-call time should be regarded as regular working hours.

Member states currently want to distinguish between "active" on-call time (spent at the work place) and "inactive" on-call time (when one is not required to be physically at work), with the "inactive" type not necessarily counting as working time.

For its part, the parliament says any on-call period of time is working time.

In December, MEPs also voted to scrap the opt-out from the 48-hour working week for the 15 countries that wanted to stay out.

The UK has been particularly keen to keep this opt-out, with UK employment minister Pat McFadden saying on Thursday: "We have said consistently that we would not give up the opt-out and we have delivered on that pledge."

Mr McFadden also argued in defence of a flexible definition of working hours.

"We argued that everyone has the right to basic protections surrounding the hours that they work, but also the right to choose those hours," he was reported as saying by the BBC after the talks with MEPs.

"In the current downturn it is more important than ever that people keep the right to put more money in their pockets by working longer hours if they wish. We refused to be pushed into a bad deal for Britain," he added.

Blame game

The Council – representing EU member states – and the parliament have blamed each other for the collapse of the latest round of talks.

"If the Parliament does want to improve the situation of workers, it needs to reconsider its rigid position. Otherwise, our joint efforts will come to nothing," said Petr Necas, Czech deputy prime minister and minister of labour and social affairs, who presided over the negotiations.

German socialist MEP Mechtild Rothe, who chairs the parliament's delegation in the talks said that the parliament had come forward with proposals, "but it was not possible to agree with the Council."

"There was nothing forthcoming from the Council, we were bitterly disappointed by that," she said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, commissioner Spidla called on both institutions to act responsibly and make the necessary compromises in order to reach an agreement.

"This is not a helpful signal of Europe's acting together in the interest of its citizens. I hope both sides will now reflect on the situation. No agreement is not a long-term solution, as both sides know full well," he said.

Big format

The conciliation talks involve diplomats from all 27 member states and the equivalent number of MEPs.

They have until 28 April to reach a compromise, with the working time directive being on the agenda of the last plenary session of the current parliament's term, on 4 May.

If the member states and MEPs fail to agree on a joint text by then, the legislation will be dropped and the commission, as the bloc's executive, will have to draft a new one.