With the beginning of the year 2006 the controversial services proposal faces the final spurt. For some it’s the visionary instrument they sought for a long time – others consider it to be the beginning of the end of “welfare state” and “solidarity”. The two most contentious issues are the country of origin principle and the scope of the directive regarding social and health services.
As one of the most hotly debated issues of the past year the Services Directive dodged the first bullet on its way to free up commercial services from Malta to Estonia, with the vote of the Internal Market Committee of the European Parliament (IMCO) held on 22nd of November of last year.
This vote, with no fewer than 1600 amendments being tabled, highlighted once more the changed – and changing – history of European integration: A previous demonstration of this had been the EU-enlargement of 2004 on the one hand and the recent failed French and Dutch referenda on the Constitution on the other. Weiter lesen…
