EU ministers agree on services directive

[muriel_volestrangler]

European Union (EU) ministers yesterday agreed on a landmark deal to open-up Europe's market in services to cross-border competition.
...
Yesterday's compromise deal follows months of controversy over the planned reforms, with an earlier draft of the directive held partly responsible for the decision by French and Dutch voters to reject the EU constitution in referendums held last year.

Under the original version of the directive, companies providing services throughout the EU would have been allowed to operate under the rules of their home country, prompting fears that firms from new-member states would undercut their rivals in richer EU nations.

Twenty-four of the EU's 25 member states voted to back a revised draft of the proposals yesterday, following the European Parliament's decision to vote against the so-called "country of origin" principle in February.

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/news/international-affairs/eu-ministers-agree-on-services-directive-$441338.htm

The old version was known as the Bolkestein Directive (no, not a Robert Ludlum novel), for those who were following along. This might turn out to be quite important - the EU has found a way to integrate a bit more, without the race to the bottom that the 'country of origin' principle threatened to be.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Wow, a deleted sub-thread as the first repsonse to a news item?

I wish I'd seen what happened.