MEPs compromise on services law crumbles

Days before a crucial vote on the services directive in the European Parliament, a deal clinched by conservative and socialist factions last week has come under fire from German MEPs in both political groups.

The conservative EPP and socialist PES leaderships last week after a series of tough negotiations reached agreement over the controversial bill, aimed at opening up the bloc's heavily-protected services sector.

But German conservative and socialist MEPs over the weekend threatened to vote against the compromise in the parliament's plenary session on Thursday (16 February), according to German daily Handelsblatt.

The christian democrat MEP Andreas Schwab said that the exemption of social services and consumer protection from liberalisation, as foreseen in the deal, would "open the door" for red tape and undermine the directive.

"The directive in that case doesnt make sense anymore. The compromise would not be acceptable for the EPP anymore."

Last week's EPP-PES deal includes a reformulated "country of origin" principle, which represents the most controversial aspect of the bill.

Whereas the initial proposal for the services law by the European Commission stated that cross-border service providers could work according to the rules of their country of origin, the conservative-socialist version is more protectionist.

The compromise states that while member states must remove all current obstacles foreign service providers might encounter, they still have the right to impose their regulation when public security, the environment, social policy or health and consumer protection are at stake.

The reduced scope of the directive has raised doubts among both centre-right and centre-left MEPs as to whether the aim of removing obstacles for cross-border companies can still be achieved.

German socialist MEP Dagmar Roth-Behrendt said according to Handelsblatt "I don’t know if I can approve this…I can’t see what the added value of the directive should be now."

Swedish and new member states' deputies had earlier voiced similar criticism on the allegedly protectionist nature of the EPP-PES compromise.

Protests in Berlin and Strasbourg

But trade unions over the weekend protested against too much rather than too little liberalisation in the services bill, German media report.

Some 35,000 protesters marched in Berlin on Saturday against the "Bolkestein directive", as the bill was named after its author, the former internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein.

"Europe yes – social dumping no!" said the slogan carried by protesters in the German capital, expressing fear of job losses and the undermining of labour standards through cheap competition from the East.

Strasbourg also saw around 10,000 trade unionists protest against the bill over the weekend, with more protests planned ahead of Thursday’s vote.

The EU's federation of trade unions (ETUC) has called for a major demonstration in Strasbourg on Tuesday (14 February) when MEPs will debate the directive.