An EU bill to open port servicesto greater competition will be rejected this week by the European Parliament after violent protests by dock workers, the chamber's main political groups said today.
Meeting ahead of tomorrow's vote, the Socialists (PSE) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) said they would vote down the proposal.
"We decided, as was always our intention, to reject this proposal," Tony Robinson, Socialist group spokesman said.
Liberals spokesman Neil Corlett said his group had decided to reject the proposal as they felt it did not address enough of their concerns.
The largest group, the European Peoples Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED), was divided on the issue but the majority of members were expected to vote against the bill.
"Our group goes into the vote still divided, however, the majority will probably vote to reject the bill when it comes to the crunch," Phillip Schulmeister, EPP-ED spokesman said.
The bill proposed by the European Commission, the EU's executive, has sparked violent demonstrations and mass walkouts by dock workers.
Workers at ports around Europe walked off the job on Monday and up to 10,000 people demonstrated in Strasbourg, setting fire to cars and smashing the windows of the parliament.
Workers fear job losses from the bill, which would scrap existing monopolies on cargo handling by terminal companies and allow shipping firms to appoint independent contractors to load and unload vessels.
It will be the second time the parliament has rejected the issue, voting down another ports bill in 2003.