Charlie McCreevy has been in the news around Europe because of his remarks on the EU's internal market and how it relates to labour market practices in Sweden. He has defended a Latvian building company's case that it was not obliged to pay Swedish pay rates on a contract in the town of Vaxholm.
The company was forced to withdraw after it was picketed by Swedish trade unions and has since gone out of business. The Swedish labour court has referred the case to the European Court of Justice.
Yesterday in the European Parliament Mr McCreevy repeated his defence of the principles involved as he sees them. They raise fundamental issues about how the internal market in an EU of 450 million people should be constrained by social and labour law and by collective bargaining between employers and trade unions, most of which is determined at national level. Their application was to be clarified in the services directive proposed by the former commission, which has since been withdrawn. Mr McCreevy, responsible for the internal market, has proposed another draft, which will have to be agreed by EU governments and by the European Parliament.
These issues cannot be resolved only by legal rulings and clarifications. They require political determination. Mr McCreevy has stoutly defended his patch and denied that he has a single recipe for organising labour relations or a single social model. Yesterday he told the European Parliament that "the commission does not call into question the system of labour relations in Sweden or any other member state". But "maintaining barriers and trying to pretend that competition does not exist or can be kept outside the borders is not an option". He will defend the rights of freedom of workers to move and insisted that just because Latvia is one of the newest and smallest member states does not mean its complaints are less important.
Partisan sentiment was fully in evidence in the parliament yesterday. Hans-Gert Pöttering, leader of the Christian Democrat group, supported the commissioner's stance, saying he has to stand up for freedom to provide services. Socialist leader Martin Schultz said the commission is pursuing a neo-liberal course and that freedom of movement cannot be allowed to drive down social standards. These views echo those expressed here in Ireland during the last few days, as Siptu and Ictu decided to delay entering social partnership talks until the Government gives guarantees about job displacement and exploitation of migrant workers. This is a major political issue at both national and European levels.