POSTED WORKERS : MEPS CHALLENGE COMMISSION OVER POSTED WORKERS DIRECTIVEE.

• Position: Members Of Parliament

While the European Commission sees no need "at this stage" to revise the posted workers directive, five MEPs from the Socialist, Nordic Left and Greens groups are sticking to their guns in an effort to obtain this revision. "Clearly, it's election time," commented a Commission source. The MEPs are playing hardball: in a written declaration circulated in the corridors of the European Parliament, they threaten to veto a new Commission if their demand is rejected. This would need to be signed by a majority of MEPs in order for it to be adopted during the Parliament's next plenary session, on 18-19 February.The MEPs claim this declaration to be a reaction to the current foreign labour strikes in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. They say they are "conscious" of the fact that the EU Court of Justice's verdict (1) is being used by "unscrupulous right-wing groups to promote racism and xenophobia in Britain and elsewhere".In the UK, workers staged demonstrations against "foreign workers," in particular Italians, after Total, owner of the Lindsey oil refinery in north-east England, hired an Italian company for a temporary project. British workers fear that the free movement of labour is hindering their chances in the labour market.Commenting on the strikes in the UK, EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said that "Experience has clearly shown us that it is not by creating barriers now and trying to restrict the internal market that we...