Informele ministerraad in teken van snelle overeenkomst over Dienstenrichtlijn (en)

Informal meeting of EU Competition Ministers comes within reach of agreement on policy - now there are really only questions of detail to be resolved

"Today's informal meeting of competition ministers to discuss the Services Directive went well and brought agreement on policy within reach." This was the message to the closing press conference in Graz, given today, Saturday, by the acting Chairman of the EU Competition Council and Minister for Economics and Labour Martin Bartenstein.

The starting-point for the talks, he said, was the new proposal by the European Commission, which was closely based on the resolution passed in what he called "a great moment for the European Parliament". "The member states have shown broad support for this Commission proposal," Bartenstein went on to say, "and also for the determination of the Austrian Presidency to bring the matter to a conclusion by the summer of this year."

The next session of the Competition Council on 29th May was, he said, an "ambitious goal", but it was within reach. In any event, COREPER and the Council's working group have been given the task of settling any questions of detail that are still outstanding and to undertake the required finalising of the text.

"As it needs air to breathe, Europe needs growth and jobs, and the Services Directive is an important step towards accelerating the former and creating the latter," the minister went on. It was necessary, he said, to exploit the current political momentum. Citizens of the EU states, both men and women, were expecting progress and swift agreement.

"There is a package ready, which it may be possible to improve here and there, but which can certainly not be unwrapped at this stage," Bartenstein stated. Everyone had become aware of this, not least because, on his own invitation, Members of the European Parliament took part for the first time in an informal meeting of the Competition Council and in this way were able to demonstrate the fragility of this negotiated compromise proposal by the European Parliament. "In the end there will be a Services Directive based on this proposal, or there won't be one at all, "Bartenstein stressed in conclusion.

Commissioner McCreevy: the Austrian Presidency has made great progress

EU Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy i, recalled that about six months ago no-one had believed there could be a compromise on the Services Directive, and scarcely anyone would have imagined the Commission would discard its own text and make a proposal from the Parliament the basis of a new Commission paper. But in the last few months, a great deal of time and work had been put in by the Austrian Presidency in order to bring the matter to a successful conclusion.

The ball was now in the member states' court. McCreevy, too, emphasised the need to stop arguing over matters of principle, but rather to make final adjustments to the detail. "The Directive now has the wind behind it, and if we do not make use of this to reach our goal, our children and grandchildren will still be tinkering with the Services Directive," the EU Commissioner concluded.