Main focus of Friday, February 17, 2006

Opening up the EU's service sector

By a large majority, the European Parliament adopted on Thursday, February 16 the so-called 'Bolkestein' directive aimed at liberalising the Union's services market. The original text, which sparked widespread protests last year, had been considerably rewritten in order to find a compromise. It now lies with the European Commission to come up with a new version of the directive based on the guidelines set out by the MEPs. But not everyone in Europe is satisifed with the results so far.

Woxx - Luxembourg

Columnist David Wagner fears the consequences of a text whose content is overly vague. "The 'clause on the internal market' in article 16 can leave one puzzled. In general, it gives the member states free reign to permit service companies based in country 'A' to do business in country 'B'. But the clause does not say a word about the standards and criteria that apply. As Klaus Dräger, a parliamentary official in Strasbourg, put it, it is impossible to know which criteria will apply if a Spanish architect builds something in Germany, working in a team with a Belgian engineer and a Portuguese site foreman. What is worrying is that the formulation leaves the legal aspects deliberately vague. In this case, the European Court of Justice will have to sort out the disputes to come. Everything will be left to interpretation. And economic liberalism, we all know, loves to interpret." (17/02/2006)

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The Daily Telegraph - United Kingdom

Europe's parliament has "gutted" the Bolkestein directive by removing the 'country of origin' principle and excluding a wide range of services, argues an editorial. "All this has been done in the name of protecting the European 'social model' from the scourge of 'Anglo-Saxon' competition. It may be that the European Court of Justice ... will go some way towards mitigating the effects of the politicians' short-sighted protectionism. But, in general, yesterday's vote is bad for consumers, entrepreneurs, the new central and east European members of the EU and those seeking to enter the workforce in an economic space that continues to be outstripped by America and Asia. It also makes a laughing-stock of the Lisbon goal. Nearly 50 years after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, a much enlarged union is still running scared of one of its fundamental objectives." (17/02/2006)

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ABC - Spain

"By approving the directive on the liberalisation of services on its first reading, the European parliament yesterday [Thursday, February 16] made a hugely important stride towards achieving the founding objectives of the former European Economic Community," the daily writes. "Criticised by those who tend to habitually side with corporatist or oligopolic interests, this directive can rightly be seen as the most important decision for the growth of European economies since the creation of the euro." (17/02/2006)

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Magyar Narancs - Hungary

Those who oppose the EU services directive are calling the very foundations of European integration into question, according to EU correspondent Balint Szlanko. "An embarassing, almost racist form of populism can be observed in this debate. Trade unions and politicians in France and other protectionist nations are fretting about their 35-hour work weeks and using the catchphrase 'social dumping' to stir up the fears of Eastern European companies offering cheaper services. The genuine risks to workers' rights, environmental standards and consumer protection are being grossly overestimated... The opponents of the EU services directive are barricading themselves against a united Europe in their frustration, and thereby weakening the entire European project. If they don't want companies and workers from other EU member states, perhaps it won't be long before they stop wanting the EU as a whole!" (17/02/2006)

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Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland

Witold M. Orlowski approves of the services directive, but can understand why people oppose it. "Although we defend the directive, which is good news for us (and an obvious measure as far as economists are concerned), we shouldn't ignore the fears of West Europeans. Nobody wants to lose their job, and for our part we certainly have no interest in causing a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'older' EU states – not least because that would shrink the market for our own exports." Orlowski explains that a few hundred activist members of the Polish trade unions Solidarnosc and OPZZ took part in the Strasbourg demonstration against the directive saying: "They wanted to express their solidarity with their Western European colleagues so that they can count on their help in times to come." (17/02/2006)

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Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

While most Czech newspapers express their disappointment with the watered-down version of the services directive passed by the European Parliament and blame the Western European states, the financial paper takes a more differentiated view: "The advocates of full liberalisation of the market for services say it could lead to the creation of 600,000 new jobs in the EU. A few dozen Czech trade unionists did their best to prevent this by taking a luxury excursion to Strasbourg to demonstrate against the measure. They claim they fear the country will be swamped by Bulgarian and Romanian craftsmen. However, even if this should turn out to be the case, what have the Czech trade unions got to do with it? Craftsmen are not union members. People say the Czechs have golden hands and can repair anything. They don't say that about the Bulgarians and the Romanians. The Czech Republic won't be swamped." (17/02/2006)

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