Industry wins key services battle

By Tim King

Date: 24/11/05

Business lobbyists were claiming victory this week after the vote in the European Parliament's internal market committee on the services directive.

The outcome was condemned by the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC) as "totally unacceptable".

Admitting that the result was "not what it had anticipated", ETUC vowed to achieve "drastic changes" in MEPs' thinking between now and the vote in plenary session, expected in January.

The directive, among the most controversial proposed by the Commission, aims to break down barriers to the cross-border provision of services.

If the "neo-liberal" position was maintained, ETUC would, it said, "abandon its conciliatory approach and...demand the withdrawal of the directive in its entirety".

The European employers' organisation UNICE, on the other hand, welcomed the outcome.

UNICE President Ernest-Antoine Seillière said: "It is vital that, in the upcoming vote in plenary, members of the Parliament support the thrust of the report just adopted by this committee and make sure that the services directive remains neutral with respect to the posting of workers directive. The European Parliament has taken an important step towards completing the internal market for services."

The committee adopted the amended directive by 25 votes to 15. The 'No' votes came from the Greens and Communists and some Socialists. Other Socialists, including the rapporteur, Evelyn Gebhardt, abstained.

Among the most contentious of the issues in the services directive was the question of who should regulate those providing a service in another country. The Commission had proposed the so-called country of origin principle, which was fiercely opposed by the trade unions.

The amendment app-roved by the internal market committee was put forward jointly by the EPP-ED, the liberal ALDE group and the UEN group.

It reads: "Member states shall respect service providers' rights to provide a service in another member state than that where they are established. When providing a service, they are subject only to the provisions of the member state of establishment relating to access to a service activity and with regard to the exercise of a service activity, in particular the requirements governing the establishment and operation of the service provider, his behaviour, the quality or content of the service, standards and certifications.

"This does not prevent the member state into which the service provider moves from enforcing its specific requirements, with regard to the exercise of a service activity, that are indispensable for reasons of public policy or public security, or for the protection of the health or the environment, in order to prevent particular risks at the place where the service is provided."

Article reports on the vote in the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee on the proposed Directive on Services in the Internal Market, 21 November 2005. The committee adopted the amended directive by 25 votes to 15. The 'No' votes came from the Greens and Communists and some Socialists. Other Socialists, including the rapporteur, Evelyn Gebhardt, abstained.

European Commission: PreLex: COM(2004)2: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Services in the Internal Market http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2002:002:FIN

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