Brussels, 12/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Greek Presidency of the Council is currently drafting an initial compromise text on the implementing directive regarding worker secondment and intends to present it to the national ambassadors (Coreper) on Friday 14 February. The aim is to obtain a mandate to negotiate, as the final compromise is still a long way off.
The last meeting of these inter-institutional negotiations took place on Tuesday 12 February, “in a very good climate”. According to one of the participants, this was because the meeting made it possible to move forward on the issue of administrative cooperation. It was also an opportunity to continue talks on Article 3 (elements to identify a secondment situation) and an initial exchange of views on Article 12, which covers the responsibility of the sub-contractor (see EUROPE 11004). As for Article 9 (national control measures and administrative requirements), the Parliament's negotiators proposed a compromise text (see EUROPE 11014) at the meeting of 7 February. However, the differences of opinion over the approach adopted by the Council in December 2013 are still too great and this proposed compromise will be impossible to push through, according to a European source. The next meeting, which will be held on Thursday 13 February, will for the first time discuss points related to the cross-border implementation of fines and administrative sanctions. (JK/transl.fl)