EUROPE: Negotiators from the two biggest political groups in the European Parliament held talks last night to try to finalise a political agreement on the services directive.
The European People's Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the Socialist Group debated a number of amendments to the directive, which proposes to liberalise the EU services market. The political talks are due to continue in an effort to reach final agreement on the text of a compromise directive before MEPs vote on it tomorrow.
The directive, which was proposed more than two years ago, is one of the most controversial pieces of EU legislation to come before the parliament in years.
It proposes to extend the free market that exists for the sale of goods within the EU to a range of service providers such as hairdressers, estate agencies and construction firms.
Last week the two main political groups agreed the outline of a compromise directive; however, differences emerged yesterday over the text of the proposed amendments.
The EPP-ED group, which favours a more liberal directive, proposed deleting two specific safeguards related to "social policy" and "consumer protection" in the compromise text previously agreed with the Socialists. A majority within the conservative group believe that these safeguards could enable member states to use the clauses to block service providers from entering their markets unnecessarily.
Even though the freedom to provide services is enshrined in the EU treaties, legal and bureaucratic obstacles prevent firms from operating in particular countries in Europe. The directive is seeking to remove these hurdles, but is opposed by some trade unions that fear it will undermine wages and working conditions.
The Socialist group is due to meet this morning to debate changes to the text, but most MEPs predict a deal will be clinched before the vote.
An agreement between the two biggest political groups would almost certainly give the directive the simple majority it requires to pass its first reading in parliament. However, many east European MEPs in the two main groups are likely to vote against the compromise, signalling an East-West split among parliamentary deputies.
Meanwhile, EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy signalled he is willing to accept a reasonable compromise proposal passed by the parliament.
In a speech to the parliament, he said the compromise texts that he had seen gave the commission a good basis for producing a modified proposal.
"We intend to take on board and incorporate in our revised proposal those amendments that we believe to be supported by a broad majority of this house," said Mr McCreevy.
The controversial nature of the directive was underlined by the presence of tens of thousands of trade union demonstrators at the parliament yesterday. Several Irish trade union leaders attended the protests in Strasbourg, including TUI president Paddy Healy and Siptu general president Jack O'Connor. But many trade unions have softened their opposition to the directive since the Socialist and EPP-ED groups agreed amendments to the text last week.
"We discussed the new compromise proposal with Irish MEPs and, on the face of it, it does seem to represent a considerable improvement on what went before," said Mr O'Connor. "But it depends on who you listen to . . . there is a lot of confusion about what the compromise actually means."
Most parliamentary observers agree that until the vote tomorrow, the exact shape of the directive will remain unclear.