Brussels, 31/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs of the EU of 25, are meeting on Thursday 1 June in Luxembourg for the EPSCO Council (Employment/Social Policy/Health/Consumers) under the chairmanship of the Austrian ministers Martin Bartenstein (Economy/Employment), Ursula Haubner (Social Security, Generations, Consumer Protection ) and Maria Rauch-Kallat (Women, Health ). The Commission is to be represented by Vladimir Spidla.
On the basis of the compromise by the Austrian Presidency, the Council will attempt to reach a political agreement on the modified proposed directive of the Commission (2003/88/EC) concerning certain aspects of working time. The debate will focus on the issues of whether the possibility of opting out (from the upper limit of 48 hours of work per week) should be kept in place, and of whether the rules on 48 hours/week should be applied "per employment contract" (which may encourage workers to enter into black market contracts and thus far exceed the maximum number of hours worked) or "per worker". This is a new problem raised under the UK Presidency of the EU in 2005 and which needs to be resolved, possibly by leaving the choice up to the Member States on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, according to a diplomat, even though this source doubted that the national delegations would agree to this solution. The dossier is a highly complex one and opinions differ within the Council, between one group of countries which believes that there should continue to be an opt-out possibility from the maximum number of hours worked per week, and another group of countries which would like to set a cut-off date to start phasing out this opt-out clause. According to the diplomat, the basic positions of the delegations have not changed much in recent months, which leaves very little hope for success. Commissioner Spidla had the same pessimistic feeling a few days ago, when he said that "although there is the willingness to succeed, there is very little chance of reaching a political agreement". He feels that there is "no reason to change the Commission's position".
The outstanding questions on which the ministers will hold an exchange of views over lunch are as follows: 1) should a limit on the maximum number of hours worked per week be set? ; 2) should an opt-out be allowed within the framework of a law or a collective convention, or do we agree for this opt-out also to be negotiated within the framework of an "individual employment contract"?; 3 should be opt-out be set in place for a maximum number of years (three or four years, for example)?
The ministers are also set to reach a political agreement on: - the proposed regulation establishing a European Gender Institute, which will be the subject of a public debate; - the programme for employment and social solidarity (Progress). The Council will try to execute the financial sum of this programme. It may be anticipated that the EP will make this political agreement its own, which will then be formally adopted by a future Council; - the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States.
Pending the first reading at the EP, the Council will also reach a "partial general orientation" on the proposed regulation of the EP and the Council setting the application details for EC regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems (and annex XI). The Council will take note of work on improving the mobility of additional pension rights. This is a highly technical dossier, as the Member States have different experiences in the field of additional pensions, the diplomatic source noted, going on to state that the objective of this directive is to promote the mobility of workers "who can then move from one Member State to another whilst keeping their right to their pension".
The committee on employment and the committee on social protection will present their joint opinions to the ministers, for approval, on flexicurity and on the examination of the EU's strategy for sustainable development, from the point of view of social inclusion. The ministers will also hold a public debate on this latter point.
Lastly, the Council will adopt conclusions on the implementation, by the Member States and the European institutions, of the Beijing action programme and will hear the Commission's presentation of its communication on social services of general interest. The President of the social protection committee will take the opportunity to voice an initial opinion on this dossier.