Brussels, 19/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/EFA Group of the European Parliament has welcomed the presentation of the preliminary Gebhardt report on the “services” directive (EUROPE 8930). “On the substance, Evelyne Gebhardt's proposal is along the right lines”, said German ecologist Heide Rühle, but we have “a few reservations”, particularly on the principle of mutual recognition which would replace the principle of country of origin. The Greens would have been happier if the Commission's proposal had simply been withdrawn. The Belgian member Pierre Jonckheer said that “in terms of democracy, it would have been better to withdraw the directive” as the only water-tight means of removing all the shortcomings and gaps in the initial proposal. “We still think that a sectorial approach based on a peer-review exercise is more sensible”, he added, repeating his preference for a positive list of purely commercial sectors to be covered by the directive. An examination of the regulatory provisions in the Member States should be carried out now and on the basis of this, the legislative work could then start, said Pierre Jonckheer, noting that such an approach would reverse the Commission's “tempo”, as it is calling for an a posteriori examination of national regulations. The rapporteur is working from the point of view of a framework directive on services, and the Greens observe that “a parallel framework directive on services of general interest (SGIs), as an extension of the White Paper, is essential” and fulfils an “urgent need”. British member Jean Lambert welcomed Evelyne Gebhardt's call to exclude SGIs from the “services” directive, especially healthcare, social services, education, culture and audiovisual services. In the view of Pierre Jonckheer, “one advantage of the Constitutional Treaty is that it provides a specific legal basis to legislate” in this field.
The Greens agree with the rejection of the principle of country of origin as a general basis for the freedom to provide services. However, they “have their doubts about the soundness of Evelyne Gebhardt's proposal to replace the principle of country of origin with a principle of mutual recognition”. They reiterate their preference for the adoption of the principle of the host country whilst there is not sufficient harmonisation.