EU: the fate of the revision of the working time directive is increasingly doubtful

The French presidency of the EU is hog-tied by the compromise adopted by the Council of Ministers on the revision of the 1993 working time directive. It couldn't bring this position closer to that adopted by the MEPs from the Committee on Employment. Thus, the fate of this draft now lies in the hands of the Plenary Assembly of the Parliament which will express its views on the text on December 17. With this crucial vote coming, MEPs are under all kinds of pressure. (Ref. 080988)
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No mandate to bargain with the Parliament. The French presidency of the EU couldn’t get a mandate to bargain with
the European Parliament for an agreement on the revision of the working time directive
before MEPs’ vote next week during the plenary assembly. The sternness of some Member
States foretells an appeal to conciliation of the euro-assembly adopts, on December
17, the report of Spanish MEP Alejandro Cercas, adopted by the Parliamentary Commission
(see
our dispatch No. 080858
).

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