EMPLOYMENT COUNCIL : FRENCH PRESIDENCY LOOKS BACK ON "FRUITFUL YEAR".

At a press conference following the Employment and Social Affairs Council meeting, on 17 December, French Minister Xavier Bertrand described with satisfaction the ministers' track record over the past six months under the French Presidency - this despite the vote in the European Parliament's plenary the same day on the Council's common position on the Working Time Directive. "We launched the renewed social agenda for Europe at the beginning of our Presidency. We can say it was a fruitful year with three directives - on temporary agency work, the European works councils and the improvement of labour conditions for maritime workers - that we...