EMPLOYMENT : WORKING TIME: DOSSIER STALLS AFTER NINE YEARS OF TALKS.

Chances that an agreement will be reached on the revision of the Working Time Directive seem increasingly slim after a social dialogue failed, on 14 December 2012. The European Commission is still pondering various possible options and the general opinion is that it is likely to publish a new proposal in the months to come. "I am not very optimistic about the future of the dossier, the risk being that it will continue going round in circles, or else that it will only lead to something very minimalistic," said Ramon Pena-Casas, a researcher at the European Social Observatory (OSE).

Directive 2003/88/EC lays down minimum requirements for the organisation of working time in respect of periods of daily rest, breaks, weekly rest, maximum weekly working time, annual leave and aspects of night work, shift work and patterns of work. But it poses...