25 May Social Affairs Council

Date: 27/05/1999

GERMAN Labour Minister Walter Riester was unable to secure agreement on the creation of a European Company Statute after 29 years of negotiations. Riester, who chaired the meeting, had launched an intensive round of bilateral talks before the meeting in a bid to overcome opposition to legislation which would set common minimum standards for incorporating firms. Only the Spanish delegation was unable to agree and Riester, supported by Acting Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn, said they would raise the issue at next week's Cologne summit.

MINISTERS reached a common position on bringing certain 'excluded' sectors of the labour market within the scope of the EU's Working Time Directive, after an acrimonious debate on the length of the transition period for junior doctors. Riester offered a 12-year phase-in, but Flynn insisted it should not be longer than seven. British Employment Minister Ian McCartney demanded a 13-year transition and all sides except Flynn agreed. The new deal leaves existing rules governing junior doctors' hours unchanged for four years, then sets a 60-hour-per-week maximum for three years, then three years at 56 hours and three more at 52, before falling to 48 hours.

THE meeting ended with a debate on the latest German plan for a European employment pact, on the basis of a three-page resolution to be agreed at the Cologne summit. The discussion focused on the establishment of a regular forum for exchanging views on labour market policy between all the key players: employers, trade unions, labour and finance ministers, and the European Central Bank. At German insistence, the paper stressed that the new plan would not undermine the independence of the ECB. French Employment Minister Martine Aubry wanted reference to be made to the need to obtain growth rates higher than 2&percent; within the EU to generate jobs.