Strasbourg, 11/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - In a resolution adopted on Wednesday 11 September, MEPs urged the member states to apply the services directive to the letter, given the potential it has for helping stimulate growth and job creation.
Just before the plenary vote, Anna Maria Corazza Bildt (EPP, Sweden), the rapporteur on this matter, expressed regret about the sluggish progress achieved in implementing the services directive (2006/123/EC) and blamed the barriers unjustifiably created by member states. She gave the example of architects who are obliged to change their commercial models when they set up in other member states and the higher prices consumers have to pay if they purchase travel arrangements on a cross-border basis. She insisted that “all barriers had to be removed. This does not incur any costs and is a way of generating growth”. She also deplored the fact that jobs were being lost on a daily basis due to these barriers. She criticised the practice of “double standards” in the Union and pointed out that “the rules exist but they are not being applied correctly”.
Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier highlighted the intransigence and “zero tolerance” the Commission applied when implementing the directive, as borne out by the “pre-litigation” procedures brought against 15 member states. Since then, five of the member states have complied with European rules. Corazza Bildt said that this was good and suggested that dialogue should be encouraged with different European countries in addition to punitive measures with certain governments not applying the rules in force in “good faith”. She also said that she would like implementation of the services directive to be included on the Competitiveness Council agenda “as long as possible” and called for grey areas in the current directive to be clarified.
The commissioner was keen to reassure MEPs regarding the social chapter and asserted that “the single market should not be carried out to the disadvantage of workers' rights or lead to abuses or unfair competition”. In this regard, he intends to maintain his political line conducive to a competitive social market economy. (MD/transl.fl)