Est. 2min 21-10-2008 (updated: 28-05-2012 ) office_work_isp.jpg Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: Français | DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram The European Parliament’s employment committee yesterday (20 October) rejected a hard-fought compromise among member states, saying it failed to include any of MEPs’ amendments. Following a heated debate that revealed largely diverging views, MEPs concluded that more time was needed to reach agreement with governments. An end to opt-outs? Socialist rapporteur Alejandro Cercas particularly criticised the fact that the Council’s common position still contains opt-out provisions allowing the UK and other countries to go beyond the agreed weekly 48-hour working cap. Cercas tabled 18 amendments to the text, calling for an end to those opt-outs, but also on including on-call-time for medical staff as working time. Earlier, Socialists had warned that they would sink the working time deal if their concerns were not addressed properly. On the contrary, UK Liberal Elisabeth Lynne stressed the need to retain flexibility and warned that she would defend the opt-out in the upcoming committee and plenary votes. In an attempt to give governments more time to take up their proposals, MEPs decided to advance the date of the committee vote to 5 November, a month earlier than initially foreseen. The plenary would then vote in second-reading in mid-December. Read more with Euractiv EU report warns of private pension risk A new report published by the European Commission yesterday (20 October) warns that the increasing number of EU citizens moving to private pension schemes could find themselves receiving "inadequate" pensions. The situation could get worse as the financial turmoil spreads to the real economy. Subscribe now to our newsletter EU Elections Decoded Email Address * Politics Newsletters BackgroundWorking time has been a long-standing issue at EU level. The 1993 Working Time Directive stipulates that workers must not work more than an average of 48 hours a week (calculated over any four-month period), although it allows for broad derogations. However, the text needed to be revised following a number of European Court of Justice rulings. The European Commission presented its proposal for a revised directive back in May 2004, but member states only managed to reach a compromise on the issue this June. The deal limits workers to a weekly maximum of 48 hours, but allows social partners to find 'flexible arrangements' if granted approval by the employer. The insertion of this clause, under which workers could effectively put in up to 60-65 hours per week, was one of the UK government's main demands, while Spain and other nations lobbied heavily against it. Timeline 5 Nov. 2008: Parliamentary committee to vote on Working Time Directive. 2 Dec. 2008: Vote by Parliament's full plenary. Further ReadingEU official documents Commission:Communication on the Council's Common Position on the Working time Directive(18 September 2008) [FR] [FR] [DE] [FR] [DE] Common Council Position [FR] [DE] Common Council Position [FR] [FR] [DE] Common Council Position [FR] [DE] Council:Council statement on Common position on Working Time Directive(15 September 2008) [FR] [FR] [DE] Council:Member states opinion on Council Common Position(3 September 2008) [FR] [FR] [DE]
