23/09/2016 (Agence Europe) – The Council of the EU’s working group met for the second time on Friday 23 September to discuss revision of the directive on the posting of workers (96/71/EC). The Slovak Presidency of the Council said that, thus far, 17 member states had responded to the questionnaire sent out (see EUROPE 11617) and 16 of these seemed willing and prepared to work on the text with a view to finding a compromise. The East-West split remains, most of the Eastern and Central European states opposed in principle to the proposal, while some Western European states have already suggested going further than what is contained in the proposal and limiting the posting of workers to 12 months (rather than 24). Before beginning to sketch the outlines of what might be negotiable, the Slovak Presidency will await the responses of the remaining 11 states and that of the Commission which is to provide it with technical detail. (JK)