Nederland wenst een flexibelere arbeidstijdenrichtlijn (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS- The Dutch EU presidency is pushing for a more flexible EU working time directive to be adopted before the end of its presidency in December.

The EU working time directive, adopted in 1993, sets a maximum of 48 working hours a week for employees in the EU.

Several member states, among them the Netherlands, have had severe problems with the directive after the European Court of Justice ruled in 2000 and 2003 that time spent on call at the workplace constitutes working time.

This means that doctors and firemen enjoying resting hours quickly reach the 48-hour maximum - causing huge extra expenses particularly for public sector employers.

The European Commissioner for Social Affairs Stavros Dimas announced on Thursday (9 July) that the Commission will "hopefully" present a new draft directive at the end of next September.

A spokeswoman for the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs told the EUobserver, "We have very much urged the Commission to do this. This is an urgent matter, not only for us but for many member states".

European trade unions and employers had also urged the Commission to act quickly.

A Dutch official said that the presidency will put the Commission proposal immediately on the agenda for EU member states.

"We will try to come to a political agreement in October", she said.

After the European Parliament has formed its opinion on the Commission proposal, it could already come to a new working time directive in December, according to the official.

"Opt-out"

The Dutch want a decentralised system whereby each member state to be able to decide for themselves what they define as working time, the Minister for Social Affairs Aart-Jan De Geus said on Dutch radio on Wednesday (7 July).

An alternative for the Dutch would be to retain the current so-called "opt-out" clause in the current directive, which offers workers the possibility to be exempted to the EU rule and work longer than 48 hours.

Both options touch a sore spot with the European trade unions (ETUC), which have called for an EU-wide recognition of "on call" working hours as well as for an end to the "opt-out" clause.

EU trade unions and employers broke off talks on the working time directive last May, as the employers organisation UNICE had concluded there was no prospect of a compromise.

The European Commission had urged trade unions and employers to form a common position as a basis for its revised draft directive - without success.