The EU's current working law needs to be modified following two EU court verdicts but its revision has been blocked by divisions over whether countries should be allowed to have an exemption from the working time limits.

Talks over the bloc's rules on temporary work have been also on hold since 2004, mainly because of differences over the social rights of temporary workers.

"We see both issues as an important part of Europe's ongoing debate on the regulation of labour markets. We know they have been frozen for some time and we want to see if there is a room for manoeuvre so that we can get rid of them," an official from Portuguese social ministry told EUobserver.

However, he added that Lisbon would not risk yet another collapse of ministerial talks on any of the two bills and would therefore file its own compromise proposals, "only if there is a clear possibility to have them adopted."

How long is too long to work?

This week, Portugal launched bilateral talks with the "most difficult" countries over working time rules, with social minister Jose Vieira da Silva "touching upon" the issue with several of his colleagues attending a conference on ‘flexicurity' in Lisbon on Thursday (13 September).

While avoiding technical details, the presidency in its informal negotiations refers to the latest compromise solution put on the table by Finland - then at the EU's helm - in November 2006.

Back then, five countries - France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus – rejected the plan, insisting that it should set a clear deadline for scrapping the provision allowing employees to work longer than the average of 48 hours per week set as a current ceiling by EU rules.

This exemption had originally been only used by Britain, but following the 2004 enlargement also by some new member states who supported the UK on keeping the opt-out.

After Nicolas Sarkozy became the new French president and signalled a push for more flexible labour rules in his country, there were some expectations that Paris could also soften its stance over the EU working time bill. But according to French sources, such a u-turn is unlikely.

How to protect 'temp' workers?

Portugal has also this week re-launched a debate on EU's bill on temporary agencies among national diplomats in Brussels.

"Most of all, we wanted to hear the positions of new member states as the major part of the previous debates on the issue had taken place before they joined the EU," the Portuguese official noted.

Despite an early sign of possible movement towards a deal before the summer break due to a shift by Britain, the meeting on Wednesday (12 September) still showed numerous differences.

The biggest differences revolve around the issue of the so-called "grace period." This refers to the period during which temping workers employed by agencies and sent to work in various companies are paid less than workers employed directly by those firms.

The European Commission's blueprint suggests a six-week period while employers as well as countries such as the UK, Germany, Denmark and Ireland call for 12 months or more.

Trade unions, backed by states such as France and Italy are pressing for a much shorter or no period.

Britain registers the highest number of workers hired by agencies for temporary work, but they are also among the least socially protected across Europe, according to some reports.

London insists it cannot support any rules that would curb the UK's flexibility in the area and is pressing for the liberalisation of the work agencies sector.

The Portuguese presidency is planning to continue in talks and if positions move closer, bring up the issue at the EU social policy ministers' meeting on 5 December.