Policy shift in Lisbon offers hope for posted workers deal

Hopes are rising that the change of government in Portugal may have paved the way for agreement on EU-wide rights for posted workers in the next six months.

Although Spanish Social Affairs Minister Antonio Griñan failed to live up to his pledge to get agreement during the second half of 1995, December's meeting of social affairs ministers saw what could be a crucial shift in Portuguese policy which might yet break the impasse.

Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn is due to discuss the issue when he meets Italian Minister Tiziano Treu on 7 January, on the eve of a meeting between all 20 Commissioners and Italian ministers in Rome to discuss the programme for Italy's six months in charge of EU business.

'Certainly, getting the posted workers directive through the Council of Ministers would be the crowning glory of the Italian presidency in the social affairs field,' said one Commission official.

Portuguese diplomats insist Lisbon has not altered its official line yet. But the Socialist government is expected to change its tune once ministry officials have completed consultations with the country's social partners.

Before losing power to the Socialists in October, the Social Democrat administration had taken a firm stand, insisting local employment conditions should not apply for the first three months of a posting abroad. Portugal is traditionally an exporter of labour, and was concerned that the so-called 'zero option', under which local conditions would be applied from day one, would prove prohibitively costly for Portuguese employers.

Commission officials are optimistic that movement in the Portuguese line may herald a shift in other member states.

In the run-up to the December meeting of social affairs ministers, Italy had been showing signs of softening its line and accepting a threshold of 10 to 15 days. Now that it occupies the chair at ministerial meetings, its primary concern will be to come up with some form of compromise.

In the other camp, French officials insist on the need for the zero option, 'both for reasons of equality and because this corresponds to the current French law'.

Paris may, however, have to soften its approach following claims that its domestic legislation discriminates against foreign companies. And after German Labour Minister Norbert Blüm's failure to push through his proposals for national laws matching those in force in France, in the face of opposition from both within the Bundesrat and from the German employers' federation BDA, he will now be keener to forge an EU-wide deal.

While this would mean some member states going back on their preference for the zero option - and the Commission abandoning its call for a one-month grace period before the terms of the directive would apply - officials within both the Commission and member states are suggesting that a deal may be possible with a threshold period of about two weeks.

'This would leave the UK and Ireland just about alone in their opposition, which would not be sufficient to hold things up,' said one official.