Internal market

The Finns oversaw a final deal on the infamous services directive which divided Europe and was said to have contributed to the French ‘No’ to the constitution.

The majority of the work on the deal was done in first reading between the two biggest groups in the European Parliament under Austria’s presidency. But UK Socialist MEP Arlene McCarthy, chairwoman of the Parliament’s internal market committee, praised the Finns’ work on the final stages of the dossier and Finnish Industry Minister Mauri Pekkarinen’s "calm" approach to the discussions as well as the presidency’s respect for Parliament’s rights of scrutiny where, she said, they were "pro-active" even though they did not have a mandate from the Council of Ministers to make any concessions to MEPs.

She was less complimentary about the Finns’ handling of the consumer credit directive which, she said, they had tried to "ram through". Although the Finns were keen at the start of their presidency to get a deal on cutting mobile phone roaming charges by the end of the year, the dossier has proved too technically complex to make rapid progress.

The Finns oversaw a final deal on the infamous services directive which divided Europe and was said to have contributed to the French ‘No’ to the constitution.