Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-15-Speech-1-072"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20081215.14.1-072"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
I believe that an agreement with the Council on this directive could have been discussed before Parliament’s second reading. The fact is that, despite efforts made by the French Presidency, the Council did not give it any mandate to negotiate with Parliament. I want to make it clear that I agree with revising the positions adopted at first reading, but I can only do this responsibly in the context of a compromise, which presupposes dialogue between the two institutions. My aim is still to obtain an agreement with the Council. This was not possible before first reading, but I trust it can be achieved through conciliation.
The two most politically important issues in this directive are on-call time and the opt-out clause. As regards on-call time, I do not see any reason not to comply with the Court of Justice judgments. There is a solution to this problem – which I am sure will be adopted in conciliation – which will solve the difficulties of various Member States and which is accepted by the whole European medical profession, which is today unanimously represented in the demonstration taking place in front of the Parliament building, involving 400 doctors who represent over 2 million doctors throughout Europe. As for the opt-out clause, in my opinion this is an issue which has nothing to do with flexibility in the labour market. In my view, flexibility is fully covered by making the reference period a year. The fundamental issue here is to decide whether or not we want European workers to be able to work more than 48 hours per week as an annual average, in other words from Monday to Saturday, eight hours a day, and whether this fits with statements that everyone makes in this House, for example, about reconciling family life with work.
I want to remind you all that the legal basis of this directive is the health and safety of workers. I must end by warmly thanking my many colleagues in the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats for all the support that they have given me in this process."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples