Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-07-Speech-4-223"
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".
Mr President, I should like to congratulate Mr Koukiadis on his excellent report on the implementation of the working time directive and agree with the last speaker, who pointed out that there are loopholes in the working time directive, although these are being closed as time goes by. I should like to remind the House that there have been significant developments over the last two years in connection with doctors' working times and in connection with working times in the fisheries industry, not to mention the recent directive on workers in haulage companies.
The Commission report on the implementation of the working time directive contains a general review of how the Member States implement the directive. The Commission is not obliged to publish this report but we felt, politically speaking, that it was conducive to greater transparency and openness. This means, as Mr Koukiadis rightly pointed out, that the transposition of the directive varies hugely from one Member State to another. Here too, we must to admit to the need to reconcile economies and societies with very different customs and practices, which is why the agreed framework is flexible and does not insist on uniform, inflexible solutions which it would be impossible to put into practice and which would make it hard to even agree on a framework.
The Member States have been given considerable room for manoeuvre in transposing the directive. The directive allows a number of exceptions based on legislation or collective agreements, thereby giving the national authorities the flexibility I have already mentioned. The Commission is happy with this multi-faceted approach and has no ambitions to push for uniform solutions in this sector.
However, I should like to comment on a number of specific recommendations made to the Commission. The report calls at various points for the Commission to monitor transposition and take the necessary steps if the directive is not transposed correctly. We are in agreement here and the proceedings available to us when Community directives are infringed have already been instituted or are due to be instituted in the cases referred to.
As regards the definition of working time and the implications of the ruling by the Court of Justice in the Simap case, which found that the time spent on duty by medical staff in first aid teams counted as full working time, the Commission is examining the implications of this case and has already held a meeting between the national authorities and the Commission services and is planning to schedule a study of the legal situation and the implications of this ruling on health systems and other sectors.
The European Parliament report also calls on the Commission to clarify where exceptions are justified on the basis of industrial agreements. There is a clear reference to the specific term in Article 18(1) allowing the Member States to deviate from the upper limit of 48 hours, provided that the worker is happy to work the extra hours. Here too, I should point out that there are safety valves to avoid measures and implications which are unacceptable to the worker. The only country to have made use of this exception is the United Kingdom. The same directive stipulates that the Council must review this provision at the Commission's proposal, accompanied by an evaluation report. And I can assure you that the Commission will be submitting the evaluation report in question.
I should also like to stress that the national authorities in every Member State will be filing national reports in 2002, analysing the practical implementation of the directive in question. The Commission will use these national reports to draft a summary report on the implementation of the directive in the Member States, which will give us a clearer picture.
I should like to close with a few comments on new work models. Obviously it is hard to apply traditional working time to new forms of work and the debate on lifelong learning and time compression is a major issue. What I can say here is that social dialogue is already playing an important part and will play an even more important part in the future. The social partners and their discussions and agreements on the role of lifelong learning and the principles of teleworking and the agreements already reached in specific sectors demonstrate that, in the initial stages, individual agreements at European level can create the right conditions for moving forward, if necessary, to a legislative framework."@en1
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