The three main stumbling blocks were the opt out, on-call time and multiple contracts. Many countries that kept the opt-out argued that to ensure flexible working time and to allow people more choice, limits on the time they could work were unnecessary.
 
On the other hand supporters of the 48 hour week said it protected workers from being exploited by employers asking them to work long hours.
 
“A bad agreement would have worsened the situation”
 
Speaking about the deadlock the man who drafted Parliament's report on the working time directive, Spanish Socialist Alejandro Cercas, said: “This is very sad. However, a bad agreement would have worsened the situation of workers in general and of doctors in particular. We have left the future open and hope to have a solution with the new Commission and the new Parliament.”
 
The conciliation committee - made up of MEPs and Ministers - whose job is to find agreement between the two branches of the EU's legislature ran up against their final deadline this week without the breakthrough needed.
 
Since there is no agreement, the current directive remains into force, though the Commission can draft a new proposal from scratch.  Such new legislation would need to take account rulings from the European Court of Justice about on-call time.