EU to take legal action vs members on working time

BRUSSELS, Nov 7 (Reuters) The European Commission will launch as soon as possible legal action against European Union members that are in breach of the bloc's working time regulations, Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said.

His statement follows the failure of EU labour ministers today to agree on amendments to the EU law that would solve discrepancies between national legislation and the EU regulation as revealed by European Court of Justice rulings.

''We need to be logical ... if a country does not respect the treaty we must bring proceedings against it,'' Spidla told a news conference after the ministers' meeting.

''We should move as fast as possible,'' he said.

Reuters AKJ GC2241