Freelancers are claiming victory after the EU shelved proposals which would have threatened their right to work.

The Professional Contractors Group which represents thousands 16,000 UK freelancers celebrated Wednesday's agreement by the EU Employment Council to shelve the Green Paper on Labour Law. This followed a vigorous campaign by PCG, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Directors and British Chambers of Commerce.

John Brazier, PCG's managing director, says: "We have worked hard on this issue with the FSB, IoD and BCC to warn of the dangers of such a measure; it is good news that Wednesday's meeting confirmed that no new laws will be proposed."

Proposals arising from the Green Paper could have meant:

- employment rights being imposed on all 'atypical workers' whether employees or not, which would destroy the freelance working model
- employment law being decided by the EU, not the UK
- official EU-wide definitions of 'workers' and 'employees' which would have denied the very existence of freelancers.