Brussels, 14/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - Meeting up for a plenary session on 10 February, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted its critical but constructive recommendation on the draft directive on services in the internal market. The Metzler and Ehnmark report obtained 145 votes with 69 voting against and 9 abstentions. Voices against mainly came for the Employers Group (Group 1). The main draft amendment in favour of the initial European Commission proposal is for introducing a transition period on two different occasions for applying the country of origin principle. On the services of general interest, the compromise finally approved the request for the exclusion of these services from the field of application of the directive, while waiting for a specific Community framework. The opinion of the EESC is that the fruit of a work will have almost lasted a year under the direction of the rapporteur, Arno Metzler (Group "various Activities", German) and of the Co-rapporteur Erik Ehnmark (Group "Employers", Swedish). It was awaited insofar as it reflects the opinion of the civil company organized on this discussed file. The EESC starts by recognizing the key role of the sector of the services as an engine of the economic growth. It however criticizes the Commission proposal (proposal "Bolkestein" of the Prodi Commission) while insisting on the need for evaluating the impact of the future directive to answer fears of its members, to more clearly to define the field of application of the text, and to maintain standards high of safety on social protection and place of work, wages and consumers. Moreover, the national provisions on the collective bargaining and the detachment of the workers should not be affected in a negative way by the directive. At the press conference which followed the EESC vote, Arno Metzler estimated, in connection with the proposal, that the European Commission "had apparently lost its patience" vis-a-vis the slowness of the harmonisation process and that it now wanted to pass through the obstacles to the liberalization of the services, not without avoiding some "wounds". The opinion of the EESC is constructive and seeks to identify, as underlined by Erik Ehnmark, the "practical and clear solutions on the discussed subjects" which will make it possible to release the potential in a more fluid domestic services market. One of the positive results of the legislative proposal on the services is to have made become aware of the need for acting. "It is necessary to do something", recognized Arno Metzler. He added that, "the proposal of the CESE comes in two phases: one, harmonization, and two, the application of the principle of the country of origin when it is acceptable. The objective is to lead to a situation in which all the actors profit from a level playing field". The rapporteur indicated that the adoption of the directive on the recognition of the occupational qualifications, as hoped by the Luxembourg Presidency, would constitute a good starting point. The clarification for articulating this directive, with the proposal on the services, is a significant stake (see EUROPE of December 8, 2004). Arno Metzler declared that "the Committee agrees on the principle of considering the domestic services market under the angle of the principle of the country of origin", but that there are fields where the immediate application of this principle is impossible and would result in a weakening of the standards. Erik Ehnmark considered that, "from the trade-union point of view", it was "very useful" the CESE found "a manner of approaching the principle of the country of origin". At the heart of the draft directive, is the principle establishing that a service provider will be able to carry on his activities in another Member State by applying the legislation of his country of origin, and that the responsibility for the control of the activities of the person receiving benefits falls on the country of origin text here.