The consultation document on the possibility to amend the 1994 Directive on EWCs should be submitted to European Social Partners at the beginning of 2008, after being permanently adopted by the College of Commissioners, planned for January. The propositions aim at updating the text of 1994 concerning the most recent European provisions in terms of information and consultation, at strengthening councils' role, and at introducing new regulations to solve concrete problems in the directive's enforcement. (Ref. 071000)
The European Commission, as announced in its work programme for 2008 and confirmed by its president, Jose Manuel Barroso before the European Parliament, will soon launch the consultation of European Social Partners on the revision of the Directive on European Works’ Councils. There is no doubt that European employers – i.e. BusinessEurope – will say no to the possibility to launch a negotiation on this revision. As a consequence, the content of the consultation document has to be seen as that of the future draft directive which will be presented by the Commission, once the consultation period awarded to social partners is over.
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