A third point which deserves the Commission's attention is the woolly definition of maximum working time.

Secondly, the possibility of individual exceptions from the maximum working time, the famous 'opting out'.

Taking a flexible approach, Parliament also supported the proposal for a maximum working time of 48 hours per worker and not per contract.

Like modern chairs, many of these models were somewhat adjustable to provide the maximum comfort and thus the maximum working time.

The other, let us say more important, aspects such as minimum rest period and maximum working time and suchlike would have to be regulated sector by sector.

It is enough to declare that the Union upholds observance of the International Labour Organization conventions on maximum working time, freedom of trade union association and collective bargaining.

The purpose of the original directive was, out of health and safety considerations, to safeguard employees against unduly long working days by setting a maximum working time of 48 hours per week.

If, for example, both companies have agreed with their workforce to introduce flexible working hours within the framework of rules on maximum working time, is that something that has been forced on employees?

Another example: it has been said that the provisions on the posting of workers now included in the draft directive make it possible to ensure that employees in other Member States stick to the maximum working time.

With regard to the maximum working time at night, especially bearing in mind the situation of peripheral Member States such as Portugal, the solution adopted by the Council is more appropriate, which stipulates ten hours in every twenty-four hours.

To be specific, the Commission proposal will allow the maximum working time to be as much as 65 hours a week, while the current directive and the International Labour Organisation Convention introduced a maximum permissible working week of 48 hours as long ago as 1919.

The first is that the time driven must not exceed nine hours in any given day, the second that it must not exceed 56 hours in a week and must not result in the maximum working time specified in the Working Time Directive being exceeded.

However, I have decided to vote against the report on the following points: the proposal that the employee be informed at least 24 hours in advance, the proposal that time spent next to the driver is to be counted as working hours and the proposal concerning a maximum working time of eight hours when driving at night.

Europe requires real social convergence, such as the European principle of a guaranteed minimum wage, fixing the legal working hours at 35 for the year 2000, reduction in maximum working time, etc. The recent lorry drivers' conflict in France highlights the risk of social dumping, of an open market, without commonly accepted social and labour relations standards.