Brussels, 28/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - For the first time since the Treaty of Amsterdam (which extended the scope of the co-decision procedure), no agreement could be reached at the last meeting of the Conciliation Committee between the EP and the Council in negotiations on the working time directive. The three stumbling blocks were the opt-out, on-call time and multiple contracts (see EUROPE 9884, 9875, 9864). The decision was taken by the overwhelming majority of 15 votes for, none against and 5 abstentions within the EP delegation. “The result is clear,” Mechtild Rothe (PES, Germany), who led the EP delegation in the Conciliation Committee on the said directive, told press. She announced that she would make a statement on this at the plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday 4 May. The statement will be followed by a debate. José Silva Peneda (EPP-ED, Portugal) said that the failure was due to a blocking minority within the Council (United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and the three Baltic states). These countries felt that any attempt to get rid of the opt-out was unacceptable. These comments were backed by Jan Andersson (PES, Sweden), chairman of the EP employment committee, who had hoped that that the Council would have moved to do away with the opt-out. “It's better to have no agreement than a bad one. We cannot accept such an agreement, because it is bad for workers' health and for their family lives, it violates international social legislation and will lead to social dumping with the other member states,” said Alejandro Cercas (PES, Spain). He hoped that a solution could be found with the new Commission and new Parliament.
“Despite tireless negotiations over five years on the review of the 1993 directive, the existing text will remain in force,” stated Czech Deputy Prime Minister and labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas, who took the view that MEPs had been “inflexible” in their approach, which will mean that the opt-out will be the rule rather than the exception. “The Czech Presidency was ready to discuss, on behalf of member states, the balanced draft compromise put by the European Commission during the last negotiations in the night of Monday into Tuesday, but, after the vote by members of the EP delegation, Parliament refused to continue negotiations,” Necas said. Following this failure, the number of countries opting out will increase, he added. Commissioner Vladimir Spidla drew the same conclusion, although this was “not something I want to see happen”. The College “will now need to reflect on this result, and decide what, if anything, we can do next,” he said. (G.B./transl.rt)