November 7, 2006
Playing to the gallery
The Finns love open, transparent government. But even they admit privately that it is not particularly helpful to have cameras filming EU ministers as they try to hammer out a compromise on the vexed question of European working hours.
Spanish, French and Italian employment ministers are widely expected to use the televised session to denounce Britain over its use of the "opt out" from the EU’s maximum 48-hour working week legislation.
"We expect a lot of playing to the trade union gallery," said one EU diplomat.
It is only over lunch at Tuesday’s meeting that ministers will have their real negotiation on whether a compromise settlement can be reached under which the UK could keep its opt out, with some strings attached.
"The cameras won’t be allowed into the lunch, so you can expect it to be quite a long one," said the EU diplomat.
On the face of it, a deal is highly unlikely. France has put itself at the head of a group of countries demanding an end date for the British opt-out, which is seen by British employers as a vital part of the UK’s flexible labour market.
Alistair Darling, UK trade and industry secretary, says keeping the opt-out is his negotiating bottom line.
The only problem is that if ministers do not agree on Tuesday, it could be over a year before they confront the issue again. The German presidency of the EU in the first half of 2007 has already made it clear it won’t touch the matter, especially with French presidential elections likely to make compromise even harder.
In the meantime, EU governments could find themselves taken to court by the European Commission for failing to apply the working time directive to doctors, after a European Court ruling decreed that "on call" time should be included in the 48-hour week.
That ruling is imposing huge costs on European health services, either through higher overtime pay to medics or through the recruitment of new staff.
Amending the directive is in everyone’s interest, but the doctors issue has become enmeshed with the review of the British opt-out. No deal on Tuesday would allow the UK to keep its opt-out, but everybody’s health services facing an uncertain legal future.
George Parker
