POSTED WORKERS DIRECTIVE : PRESIDENCY RELUCTANT TO SPEED UP REVISION.

• Position: Brief article

The Posted Workers Directive should first be implemented in a "proper way" by all member states, says the Czech EU Presidency. Speeding up analysis of the directive jointly with the social partners would be "counterproductive," it believes. The Presidency's statement of 6 February came in reaction to a declaration, circulated by five MEPs in the European Parliament, which seeks to force the European Commission to speed up the revision of the directive. The Commission has said that it will decide on whether to commence with the revision based on the outcome of the ongoing joint analysis by the social partners. The trade unions, along with the EP's Socialists, fear that the EU Court of Justice's relevant verdicts (Laval and Viking cases) threaten the social protection of posted workers, and therefore they ask for the directive's revision.

Referring to the October 2008 forum held in Brussels on Workers' rights and economic freedoms', which was attended by several EU ministers of labour and other leading personalities, the...