Overtime safe as EU talks fail

An attempt to revise the EU's working time directive has been blocked again following lengthy talks yesterday in Brussels between employment ministers.

The opt-out clause, which permits member states not to abide by a maximum 48-hour working week, was once again the main sticking point.

The Finnish presidency had proposed capping the working week at 60 hours, calculated over three months, for those countries choosing to opt out. The lack of agreement, however, means that Maltese workers can continue to work as much overtime as they wish.

Malta, represented at the extraordinary Employment Council by Education Minister Louis Galea, was among the countries which were unprepared to end their opt-out, claiming serious repercussions on certain sectors important to the economy, such as health and tourism, if they were to do so.

Unlike on previous occasions, however, the agreement was blocked by the opposing camp - those countries which insist on removing the opt-out clause, namely France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Cyprus. "As we had said before, we were considering the Finnish proposal as a good basis for discussion and we were ready to negotiate towards a compromise," Dr Galea explained after the meeting.

"However, five countries formed a blocking minority insisting that they do not want to discuss if the agreement does not include a definite time frame for the end of the opt-out. This was not accepted by the presidency and the meeting ended without agreement."

Government sources said the current status quo was acceptable to Malta as it permits its workforce to be as flexible as possible in order to respond to economic needs. However, Malta was still in favour of negotiations to find a common EU solution.

Yesterday's disagreement leaves this issue pending again following three years of discussion. The Finnish presidency was the fifth to make an attempt at resolving it.

Finnish Labour Minister Tarja Filatov told a press conference following the Council meeting that an agreement was near and far at the same time.

"We have to conclude that there is still a five-country minority that wants a cut-off date for the opt-out and can block things, so I don't think there is any point in trying to find a solution to this problem, not at this meeting," she said. Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said he was disillusioned that an agreement had not been reached.