European socialists' vote on working time directive

The European Parliament's vote on the Working Time Directive, in favour of capping overtime, is definitely a blow to Maltese competitiveness.

Unfortunately, the Socialist Group within the EU Parliament, of which the Maltese Labour Party is a member, got its way to the disappointment of thousands of workers throughout Europe.

While it is true that the Maltese Labour MEPs followed the example of the the Nationalist Party MEPs and voted against, yet it would be interesting to note that only a couple of months ago a very prominent figure of the PES, Martin Schultz, came to Malta to lend his support to Joseph Muscat who back then was campaigning for the top seat of the Labour Party.

Dr Muscat should have taken advantage of his close friendship with Mr Schultz to convince him otherwise; apparently he did not or perhaps he did not try.