"Sunday as the general day of weekly rest will not be included in the future European Working Time Directive, even if the explicit aim of this Directive is namely the reconciliation of work and family life." This is what COMECE Secretary General Piotr Mazurkiewicz said this evening speaking of "inconsistency, and of a failed attempt, considering that European citizens are expecting a social Europe that will protect the workers and their families." Thanking "all those who have committed themselves to the protection of weekly rest," Mazurkiewicz recalls that MEPs Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Thomas Mann and Hubert Pirker had put forward two amendments aiming at introducing Sunday as a day of weekly rest “by principle”; the amendments were signed by 40 MEPs from different parties. Even the representatives of the Churches and the associations for the protection of Sunday, as well as Trade Unions of different member States, had supported the initiative. (continued)
