In the light of the latest interinstitutional negotiations held on Thursday 31 January, representatives of the European Parliament and the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council are now moving towards an agreement on the directive on ‘transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union’ at the eighth and probably last trilogue session on this issue between the European Parliament and the Council on Wednesday 6 February.
The meeting will be held at the end of the day and is expected to be particularly intense, as the political points to be decided remain numerous, we were told on Friday, February 1.
The following points are still to be negotiated: - the scope of the Directive; - the time threshold worked per month to define the application or not of the Directive; - the types of contractual information required and the deadlines for providing these elements to workers.
On the threshold, the European Parliament would be inclined to accept the European Commission's proposal that the Directive does not apply to contracts of less than 8 hours per month. This is a very high level of ambition for the Council, which proposes a threshold of 16 hours per month (see EUROPE 12180). The final compromise could therefore be reached between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Regarding the definition of "worker", the co-legislators should move towards the solution that has recently been found on the Directive on Work-Life Balance (see EUROPE 12179). Thus, the definition of worker should be determined in accordance with the national laws in force, but always within the framework of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
As for the deadlines for providing essential information, negotiations remain torn between the European Parliament's position, which wants it to be communicated from the first day of performance of the contract, and that of the Council, which advocates flexibility of up to 7 days. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)