By Martin Banks - 24th March 2010
It will be of no use to SMEs if we have to wait another 12 months before it sees the light of day
Malcolm Harbour
A huge number of amendments looks set to delay a parliamentary vote on the controversial late payment directive.
The draft law aims to revise existing EU-wide legislation regarding the problem of delays in paying companies for work they have carried out.
A hearing on Wednesday organised by the Parliament Magazine was told MEPs were due to vote on the European commission's directive on 10 April.
But parliament's rapporteur on the dossier, Barbara Weiler, said she would ask for a postponement in order to give her a chance to seek a compromise between the different political groups.
She told the lunchtime debate this was due to the 202 amendments which have been tabled by MEPs. The vote is now expected to be delayed until after Easter.
"It is important to push ahead with this legislation but we clearly first need to find a compromise," she said.
"At the same time, it is important that we do not lose sight of why the commission has proposed this law, that is, because action is necessary to deal with the problem of late payment in commercial transactions."
One of the stumbling blocks at present is the failure to agree on whether the health sector should be included in any future legislation.
Weiler told the debate she favours the health sector, including hospitals, being treated differently to public authorities.
"Hospitals should be exempt because, otherwise you are going to end up with competition between private and state hospitals and that would be unfair."
However, another invited speaker, Liliana Brykman, director of regulatory policy at the commission, said she disagrees, insisting there was "no reason or justification" for an exemption.
"That is our policy and we are sticking to it," she told the meeting.
The meeting heard from several SME representatives that delays in payment was crippling business and stifling innovation.
UK Tory MEP Malcolm Harbour, who chaired the event, backed Weiler's call for a postponement to ensure that the parliament's political groups could find consensus on the issue.
However he stressed the need for all three EU institutions involved in the directive, parliament, commission and council to move forward as quickly as possible on agreeing a deal.
Harbour said that it was "imperative" that the institutions made progress as the legislation would greatly benefit European companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
"This proposal was first put forward a year ago and it will be of no use to SMEs if we have to wait another 12 months before it sees the light of day. We must all move forward on this."
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