Brussels, 23/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - The confirmation by the Spring Council that the draft Bolkestein directive will be reviewed (see EUROPE no. 8915) was welcomed by MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the President of the Party of European Socialists (PSE), exclaiming: “Isn't democracy wonderful? The people spoke and their leaders were forced to listen”. In the view of the former Danish Prime Minister, it must now be ensured that “the concessions made this week are not merely an empty promise to help Jacques Chirac get out of his problems with his electors”. The outcome of the Council is a “victory for the socialist group” of the European Parliament, the group's President Martin Schulz commented. Pointing out that the German social-democrat Evelyn Gebhardt, the Parliament rapporteur on this dossier, intended to propose an in-depth review of the text, Mr Schulz renewed his invitation to the PPE-DE group to support the socialists' amendments. “It is time for them to stand up and be counted, to demonstrate whether or not they want to save the European social model”, the German social-democrat warned in a communication. In the ALDE group, his compatriot Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (FDP) played matters down, saying that the heads of state and government had in fact only repeated what had been the consensus for months: “yes to liberalisation, no to social dumping”. The draft directive “has not been swept from the table”, but the text will be “firmed up”, he stressed.
The ALDE group, in a communication, invites the Parliament, following the Council's clarifications, to shoulder its responsibilities and to present a “balanced compromise for its first reading in July”, that is “a text providing a secure legal framework for all involved: service providers, consumers and workers”. Anneli Jäättenmäki, “shadow” rapporteur for the ALDE group on Bolkestein directive, commented: yes, we want this directive, but European liberals and democrats “do not intend to sacrifice the foundations of the European social model for competitiveness”. There is therefore a need to clarify the scope of application of the directive and the application of the country of origin principle, the Finnish MEP emphasised.