MEPs debate new law on services

[DodgyAgent]

Hang on though - stupid, overly complex and unworkable is par for the course for our government. That should not stop it.

I believe that it is called the "Bolkestein Directive". It was designed to enable small building firms, professionals, small scale contractors to carry out work based in their country of origin; they could second staff on a temporary basis to test the market with one off projects, only investing in a local company if the venture was worthwhile. They would be subject to home country regulations in terms of how they operate their businesses and pay their taxes. They would not be able though to override (as mailman said) compliance with H&S rules and avoid local minimum wage rates.

So in France Polish plumbers were demonised (though no one asked whether plumbers were needed).

This is why companies such as EDS are hoovering up IT business accross the EU. First they ingratiate the powers that be (brown envelopes) and secondly they have the financial strength to be able to set up a business wherever they want.

So if you are a contractor with a healthy product or service employing say three people, you would first of all be required to set up a business, with offices, staff etc etc before you could approach say Polish Telecom for work.
And some of you clearly believe in the concept of "protectionism" Why?

But yet again the leaders of the low growth high public spending high unemployment EU and member states will prevail with their job killing policies.

[BoredBloke]

Hang on though - stupid, overly complex and unworkable is par for the course for our government. That should not stop it.

[Forumbore]

The solution is quite obvious really...just pass the freckin law but make each business subject to the local governments legislation.

There...problem solved!

Mailman

I have to agree with that. This after all is what happens in the USA (and OZ)

[The Master]

Heard an interview on Radio 4 yesterday morning about it. Apparently health and safety, tax and wage legislation will be specifically exempted. Its focus is supposed to be anti-competitive local legislation.

The bloke talking thought it was so complex there was next to no chance of it being passed into law anyway.

[Mailman]

The solution is quite obvious really...just pass the freckin law but make each business subject to the local governments legislation.

There...problem solved!

Mailman

[Forumbore]

Except that in this case this isn't true.

Think about it.

The law in Britian says that you can't set up a car breakers yard in your domestic garden.

Hypothetically, Polish leglisilation doesn't.

So a Polish company can move to Britian and set up a car breakers in a domestic garden.

Is that good law?

You can't (easily) pick and choose the bits to keep here. It's good and bad together.

tim

Well thought through

[tim123]

If the Unions oppose it then it has to be good

Except that in this case this isn't true.

Think about it.

The law in Britian says that you can't set up a car breakers yard in your domestic garden.

Hypothetically, Polish leglisilation doesn't.

So a Polish company can move to Britian and set up a car breakers in a domestic garden.

Is that good law?

You can't (easily) pick and choose the bits to keep here. It's good and bad together.

tim

[Forumbore]

Now chaps, this could be very interesting and very worrying at the same time...

If the Unions oppose it then it has to be good

[Churchill]

Now chaps, this could be very interesting and very worrying at the same time...

A controversial attempt to liberalise Europe's services sector has been debated in the European Parliament.
The services directive would remove barriers to cross-border competition, and could create up to 600,000 jobs.

But MEPs are split on whether to allow a company to operate in another state under the regulations of the country where it is based.

During the debate, tens of thousands of unionists demonstrated in the streets of Strasbourg against the directive.

Suspicion

The aim of the directive is to inject new competitive life into a sector which accounts for half the EU's economic output and more than two-thirds of its employment.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso appealed to MEPs to back the directive, saying: "I can't see anything more social than creating quality jobs."

But it has aroused fears among member states such as France, and among the unions and the left, that there could be a "race to the bottom" - that high standards of protection for workers and consumers would be undermined.

Last week, the two largest political groups in the parliament agreed to water down the principle of home-country regulation - also known as the country of origin principle - in order to secure a large majority for the legislation and to push suspicious EU governments to accept it.

However, there have been recent signs that the deal could be unravelling, leading to lengthy behind-the-scenes negotiations.

'Bizarre rules'

The UK Secretary State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "bizarre rules" in some countries needed to be changed.

"You know, in one member state the distance between opticians has to be fixed at 350 metres, in another member state there's a limit of one driving school per every 1,500 people...

"These are rules set up to prevent competition in that country. We've swept them away on goods, so we need to sweep them away on services."

The General Secretary of the European TUC, John Monks, told the same programme that his members disagreed with the country of origin principle.

"The idea somehow there's a licence for companies not to observe the laws of the country in which they are trading, that's a step too far and I think it's anti-democratic."

Compromise

However, Mr Monks backed the compromise agreed by centre-right and centre-left MEPs last week - despite the calls from trade union demonstrators for the legislation to be scrapped.

He warned hard-left MEPs in Strasbourg that if they voted against the compromise, a more free-market version of the directive may be approved.

The compromise rejects the country of origin principle, and gives governments the right to put obstacles in the path of foreign service providers, if they are necessary to protect consumer rights and social policy.

It has been condemned by some MEPs on both right and left.

A number say the terms "consumer rights and social policy" are too broad, and have threatened to vote, on Thursday, against any amendment couched in this language.