Brussels, 19/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Alliance of Liberal Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group states that it is “open to compromise” on the directive on services. “The choice of a framework directive as a legal instrument is a judicious one. However, the extent of its scope will bring about problems of definition” and calls for “special provisions and exceptions to the rules”, it indicates in a press release. The ALDE group remains “more than ever in favour of the principle of country of origin, which is indispensable for the emergence of a genuinely integrated services market”, whilst speaking out against “any threat of social dumping”. The application of the principle of country of origin calls for “efficient administrative cooperation on the part of the Member States' authorities”, which could take shape via the creation of harmonised forms and on-line databases at European level.
At a conference of the Brussels-based think-tank European Policy Centre on Monday, the German Liberal Jorgo Chatzimarkakis presented his report for opinion on the “services” directive, which will be voted on by the Parliament's committee on industry, research and energy on 20 April. The rapporteur takes the basis of the driving licence principle, under which a German car insured in Germany may visit the United Kingdom, where it must respect the UK Highway Code. According to the report, the Member States of destination should have the responsibility to carry out checks on the companies and the services being provided. Mr Chatzimarkakis proposes to apply the principle of country of origin in three stages: first of all for emerging services, in five years' time for services subject to little or no regulation (such as beauty therapy), and in ten years' time for regulated professions such as legal services.