Working Time Directive - Socialists cause break down in negotiations

Negotiations over the future of the EU Working Time Directive broke down overnight as a direct result of the negotiating tactics of the Socialist Group, according to EPP-ED Employment & Social Affairs Co-ordinator Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP.

"The Socialist-dominated negotiating team interpreted their mandate from the Parliament very rigidly, and refused to accept compromises regarding on-call time which were on the table unless there was a parallel agreement to phase out the opt-out. It was obvious from the beginning that the blocking minority on the Council would never agree to this, and so the Parliament's "All or nothing" approach ensured that the result was nothing."

"Parliament also had a mandate to negotiate, but chose not to", he added. "But the good news is that the opt-out remains, and millions of workers throughout the EU will no longer be dictated to by politicians who claim to know better than the people themselves how to run their lives. In the UK alone over 3 million people choose to work longer hours in order to fend for their families: their freedom to choose is now preserved".