May Poles enter our labour market

By Rein F. Deer

Date: 02/03/06

THOSE German peas-in-a-pod Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP-ED, clean-shaven) and Martin Schulz (PES, beard) forced wan smiles onto their faces as they celebrated the watered-down compromise on the services directive two weeks ago.

Instead they should have quoted Pyrrhus of Epirus: "One more such victory and I shall be lost!"

The French drew back into their isolated Astérix-style Gaullish village while the two German sheepdogs of (supposedly) Right and Left (does it really matter?) did the dirty work for Old Europe and chased the troublesome interests of the new member states out of the field.

The deal is perfect for France and Germany. They protect their labour markets and there will be a healthy flow of illegal immigrant workers to give their sclerotic economies some much-needed flexibility.

But this xenophobic deal will backfire in several ways. The Polish social democrat Dariusz Rozati was not smiling when his group leader reminded the comrades from the new member states that they did not have to vote as their governments have recommended.

Pöttering and Schulz deserve Pinocchio-noses for denying what was obvious - heavyweight pressure from the government in Berlin.

Contrary to general belief, geese do not dislike being force-fed: both Malcolm Harbour (British Conservative) and Evelyne Gebhardt (German Socialist) looked flushed but fine after swallowing the protectionist horse-pill.

Charlie McCreevy, commissioner for the single market, behaved as if he were the first man on the moon, explaining how important was this "step that no one would have believed possible 12 months ago".

A huge leap for Europe? More like a smack on its collective head.

The prospect is now of East and West trading places, the entrepreneurs heading for the East and the delights of minimum social protection for workers while the geriatric West sinks into neo-Brezhnevite paralysis.

Not that the story is over. It would, for instance, be foolish to underestimate the Polish talent for causing trouble for the EU. The Poles are themselves born protectionists, Jesuits toughened up by decades of Communism.

Up North we have decided to watch this unedifying spectacle from the sidelines. We have a long tradition of collective bargaining, but decent social dialogue as well. And we are quite open that we need skilled labour (France and Germany don’t?).

Finland will go first, lifting the barriers to free labour on 1 May. It will be one of the first May Days in history when workers actually have something to celebrate.

Comment feature on the adoption of the Directive on Services in the Internal Market at the European Parliament and the labour market restrictions against workers from the new Member States in place in most EU countries.