By Chris Jones - 26th January 2006
MEPs have pressed the Austrian EU presidency to push for an agreement on the controversial services directive as early as March.
Speaking to MEPs on the European parliament’s internal market committee, Austrian finance minister Martin Bartenstein said that the troublesome dossier would be a priority.
“We all want a single market in services,” he said. “If we want to work effectively in producing growth and jobs, then we need this as a signal.”
But British centre-right MEP Malcolm Harbour called for a more concrete timetable, challenging the Austrians to have a proposal ready for Europe’s leaders at the summit on March 23-24.
“The member states have scrutinised every word in this proposal for two years,” he said. “Parliament has extensively reshaped it. The European commission can quickly produce a response to the parliament's proposal.”
“There is nothing to stop you placing a political proposal on the prime ministers’ table.”
“You have said that Austria is placing growth and jobs at the centre of the presidency. What better way to show this than by reaching agreement on the most important job-creating measure currently on the agenda?”
Harbour also criticised Bartenstein for agreeing to further consultations with trade unions and business leaders, calling the additional talks “a further delaying tactic”.
He said that two years was more than long enough for everyone to have their say on the commission’s proposals, and that the time had now come for action.
Harbour was supported by German Liberal Alexander Lambsdorff. “Further consultation is superfluous,” he said. “We need progress.”
Bartenstein defended the Austrian position, saying it was important to avoid a “race to the bottom” by voting for a bad services directive.
Evelyne Gebhardt, the centre-left MEP who is parliament’s rapporteur on the dossier, welcomed the Austrian stance.
“I think it is only positive that the social partners will be consulted,” she said. Gebhardt has proposed changes to the commission’s proposal that she claims would provide greater job and wage security to workers and avoid the “social dumping” of low-paid workers.
Despite Harbour’s confidence that a deal can be reached before the end of Austria’s tenure, the parliament vote on February 14 remains too too close to call.
Gebhardt’s changes to the proposal – which also include the exclusion of public services from the scope of the legislation – were rejected by MEPs on the internal market committee in November in favour of alternatives put forward by Harbour.
The British Conservative MEP supports the inclusion of most public services within the scope of the directive, arguing that many are now carried out by private firms and are already subject to market competition.
He also refutes concerns about social dumping, arguing that service providers to be subject to the rules of their home country, as is the case with all other internal market legislation.
Harbour claims that the rights of European workers – including those in the services sector – are protected under separate EU legislation.
But Gebhardt said she was encouraged by Austria’s commitment to protect “the European way of life”, and by noises from the commission that it was prepared to back her proposals.
She added that she expected her amendment on the exclusion of public services to win the backing of the full parliament at the plenary vote next month.
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