Brussels, 19/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - With the second reading of the “services” directive just begun in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 9265 and 9258), several interest groups have called for as few changes as possible to the political compromise that was reached before the summer. “Reopening the debate will put at risk the balance of interests achieved and most likely lead to inconsistent results,” warned the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) and the retail, wholesale and international trade representation to the EU, EuroCommerce in a joint letter sent last week to MEPs on the internal market and consumer protection committees. The two employers' organisations consider that “despite the modifications made to the Commission proposal, the Council's text is a first step towards the creation of a genuine internal market in the EU”. They say that the arrangements on the cross-border service provision (Article 16) and the mechanism for assessing national restrictions to cross-border service provision (Article 39.5), in particular, should be approved. Once the “services” directive has been definitively adopted, the Member States will have to get down to its correct and swift transposition.
The SSIG-FR, which represents fourteen French social services of general interest (SSGI) organisations, however, has called on the EP to “return to the second reading with the attitude as in the (February 2006) vote” as far as “the exclusion of social services” is concerned. In February, MEPs voted for a list indicating the social services to be excluded from the “services” (see EUROPE 9133). The group, nevertheless, welcomes the amendment from German Social Democrat rapporteur Evelyne Gebhardt, excluding legal and complementary social protection schemes, in line with the Commission communication on SSGI (see EUROPE 9180). It points out that the draft Rapkay report on the Commission White Paper on services of general interest calls for a legislative framework common to social and health services of general interest (see EUROPE 9264). By excluding social protection and complementary schemes, Ms Gebhardt is “ensuring the coherence of the work being carried out on the idea of SSGIs without prejudging the outcome,” says the Mutualité générale française de l'Education nationale (MGEN) in a press release. “By relaxing the condition whereby the recognition of a social service is mandated to the State, she is opening the way for the possibility for these services to initiate original policies,” adds the MGEN.