The New Acquired Rights Directive and its Implications for European Employee Relations in the Twenty-First Century

The European Commission found it difficult to secure EU Member States' agreement on the content of a revised Acquired Rights Directive. After four years of negotiation and the production of two drafts, the Council of Ministers finally agreed to adopt the Amending Directive at the Cardiff Summit in June 1998. However, this new Directive bears all the hallmarks of an EU compromise: hardly radical in outlook and still leaving unanswered some difficult questions concerning the rights of employees caught up in contracting-out and out-sourcing exercises across the EU.