The recruitment industry’s trade body has claimed a change of mood in the European Commission could help its fight against proposals for equal pay for temps.

Jose Barroso, president of the European Commission, has set his sights on improving job growth and recognised the importance of less onerous regulation.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has claimed a series of meetings in Brussels with top officials could mean the equal pay proposals in the Agency Workers Directive (AWD) will be more manageable.

Officials pointed out that they did not intend to introduce a directive that would have a negative impact on labour markets.

The AWD is on the agenda for the current presidency of the EU, which is held by Luxembourg.

But the REC claims the Working Time Directive will take precedence and there is little chance of progress over the AWD, which a number of states are currently blocking.

The trade body hopes the UK government will push for a workable directive when it takes control of the presidency in July.

A delegation from the REC went to Malta last month to raise awareness of the issue and said the Maltese government had been broadly in favour of its stance against the directive, although the Maltese labour market is heavily regulated.

The REC has also been trying to drum up support among the former eastern European countries that recently joined the EU.