EU still firm on services
BRUSSELS – The European Commission insisted yesterday it would not withdraw a disputed plan to liberalize the European market for services, despite fierce criticism from France, Germany, left-wing parties and trade unions. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday the EU executive was willing to review certain aspects of its proposed directive after French President Jacques Chirac branded the legislation unacceptable and vowed to block it. But chief Commission spokeswoman Francoise le Bail told a news conference: «The Commission wants to see services being liberalized, so there is no question of withdrawing the Services Directive. We never thought that; we never said that.» Critics oppose opening the cross-border market for services, such as education and healthcare, and the «country of origin» principle whereby service providers from one EU state could work across the 25-nation bloc based on home country regulations. Opponents argue this would lead to «social dumping,» penalizing firms and workers from those countries with higher standards of social and environmental protection. Le Bail said the EU executive wanted to work pragmatically with the European Parliament and council of member states, the EU’s co-legislators, to identify and overcome specific difficulties with the proposal. But she insisted the services legislation was a core plank of the Commission’s strategy to raise the EU’s economic growth potential and make its economy more dynamic and competitive by extending the single European market. Services account for more than half the EU’s gross domestic product and well over 60 percent of its work force, but cross-border services account for only 20 percent of the market. The Commission believes opening up services ranging from IT to architecture, legal advice or waste management could create millions of extra jobs. Barroso backtracked on Wednesday on the services directive and two other draft laws proposed by the previous Commission led by Romano Prodi – a plan to register and test 30,000 household chemicals and a proposed law on software patents. He accepted the «country of origin» principle would have to be reconsidered. France favors a gradual, sector-by-sector approach rather than such a sweeping, across-the-board policy. Paris this week came out strongly against the directive amid fears that left-wing and trade union anger was fueling opposition to the EU Constitution ahead of a key referendum expected in June. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the leader of his Social Democratic Party, Franz Muenterfering, joined the call for changes to the services directive. Berlin government spokesman Bela Anda said Schroeder did not reject the entire legislation but wanted the Commission to take more seriously «justified requests for protection» from member states seeking to avoid a leveling-down of workers’ rights. Muenterfering said he opposed any rapid introduction of a single cross-border services market, saying Germany wanted to remain a high-wage country.
