EU told plans for 48-hour week ‘a mistake'
Limiting the European Union's working week to 48 hours would be a mistake that would prejudice the economic growth of a region already trailing the US, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
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Rodrigo Rato, IMF managing director, said a 48-hour week limit would push the eurozone in “the opposite direction” from the rest of the world. “It is sending the wrong message.”
In an interview with Expansion, the Financial Times' Spanish partner, Mr Rato pointed to the example of the US and Asia, where economies were growing faster and people worked longer hours.
The European parliament voted this month to end exemptions enjoyed by Britain and some other countries to the EU's working-time directive requiring people to work an average of no more than 48 hours a week.
Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, is leading a fight, along with other EU governments, to keep the exemptions that are fiercely defended by some European employer associations.
Mr Rato who is travelling this week to Nigeria, Benin, Niger and Chad expressed dismay that some members of the Strasbourg parliament had pointed to the European welfare state model as a justification for the limit.
“I don't know what social model they are defending by stopping people doing more,” Mr Rato said. He added: “We are not talking about working conditions in Africa, we are talking about a working week of 48 hours. I have many friends who work more than that.”
French trade unions recently went on strike against a government proposal to scrap a bankholiday to improve the economic competitiveness of the country.
Debate about the working week in Europe coincides with a gloomy eurozone growth picture, with Italy in recession and other countries downgrading forecasts for the year.
Mr Rato said that the latest data confirmed the IMF forecast that the 12 eurozone countries would grow 1.6 per cent this year, far below the fund's 3.6 per cent forecast for the US. “There is notan alternative to the US as the engine for growth,” he said.
He also reiterated his view that the European Central Bank should be ready to cut interest rates if signs of “greater weakness” emerged. The ECB has ruled out such a reduction.
Nevertheless, the IMF chief said a paucity of structural reforms, rather than monetary policy, was the main obstacle to growth in Europe.
“Although [the region] has made reforms that have worked, it is still imposing excessive restrictions on mobility and on initiatives to seek and find work, and on job-creating activities,” Mr Rato said.
In spite of market concerns about a soft patch in world growth, the IMF still forecasts global growth of 4.3 per cent, with the US and emerging Asia, especially China, leading the way. “We do not see any data indicating any weakness in growth, or any acceleration,” Mr Rato said.
But he warned a new risk was emerging in the form of trade protectionism. “To try to correct imbalances with trade restrictions is a grave error,” he said.
“欧盟48小时工作制是个错误”
国际货币基金组织(IMF)警告说，把欧盟每周的工作时间限制在48小时将是一个错误，这会损害该地区经济增长，而欧盟经济增长已经落后于美国。
国际货币基金组织总裁罗德里戈?拉托(Rodrigo Rato)表示，每周48小时的上限将使欧元区与世界其余地区“背道而驰”。“它在发出错误信息。”
在接受西班牙报纸《Expansion》采访时，拉托先生举出美国和亚洲的例子。这两个地区经济发展更快，民众每周工作时间更长。《Expansion》是《金融时报》的合作伙伴。
欧洲议会本月投票决定，结束英国和其它一些国家在欧盟工作时间指令上所享受的豁免。这一指令规定民众的平均每周工作时间不得超过48小时。
英国首相托尼?布莱尔(Tony Blair)正在领导一场抗争，他和其它一些欧盟国家政府试图保留豁免权。一些欧洲雇主协会也在大力捍卫这一豁免权。
欧洲议会一些成员把欧洲福利国家模式引为上述工作时间限制的理由，拉托先生对此表示惊愕。拉托先生本周在尼日利亚、贝宁、尼日尔和乍得等国家访问。
“我不知道他们阻止人们干更多活是在捍卫什么社会模式。”拉托先生表示。他补充说：“我们不是在谈论非洲的工作条件，我们是在谈论48小时的周工作制。我很多朋友的工作时间都比这长。”
法国工会组织最近罢工，反对政府废止一个银行假日以提高该国经济竞争力的提议。
在欧洲辩论工作周问题同时，欧元区经济增长景象却不容乐观，意大利处于经济衰退，其它国家也都调降了全年增长预测。
