French Putsch at Brussels EU summit

Sophie Pedder: Nous entrions sans le savoir dans un long tunnel consacré au réferendum sur la Constitution Européenne. Une obssession qui fut l'occasion pour l'esprit imaginatif de Sophie de multiplier les exercices de style et les angles. Terriblement formateur ^___^. Le premier de cette série est un de mes préférés car il me permeit de renouer avec mon pays d'adoption, l'Irlande. Soit narrer le sommet de Bruxelles consacré...à la libéralisation des services(un boulet que je rencontrai à nouveau à la Commission) d'un point de vue d'un journaliste d'un des 25 Etats membres. Et pour une fois sans même le savoir j'avais fait une excellente pioche. Qui succédait à Bolkenstein, un Irlandais pardi, le très controversial Charlie McCrevy, ma chute fut toute trouvée :). Revoir ces textes si joliment écrit en anglais me remplit d'une certaine nostalgie (pouvoir épeller Taoiseach était un autre de ces plaisirs interdits!), comme j'aimerais pouvoir en faire autant de nos jours... Mais je crains, hélas, d'avoir quelque peu perdu à l'écrit... Snifff!

French Putsch at Brussels EU summit

Following a two-day fractious meeting in Brussels, European leaders have bowed to the French President‘s pressures to thoroughly revise the services directive better known ad the Bolkestein directive. A decision which puts Ireland in the spotlight and makes it responsible for the fate of the EU Constitution.

The directive is not only a key element of the Irish Commissioner (Charlie McCreevy) portfolio as Internal Market Commissioner but a failure to redraft the plan might also threaten the implementation of the EU Constitution, which needs the backing of all members to go into force.

As a matter of fact, the plan which has been drafted by McCreevy’s predecessor, Dutch Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, could lead to a “no vote” in the French constitution referendum. The proposal allowing service providers to operate under the same rules across the EU has bedevilled the campaign and is a key argument of the “no camp”, which recent opinion polls have shown leading the race.

The directive is little known and unquestioned in Ireland where it has been perceived as a blessing by government and as a mean to grab some of the 600 000 jobs the directive is expected to create. Although there will be some loss such as the pharmacy sector, the gains are believed to outweigh them “As a small, open economy, Ireland is dependent on open markets, and the plan to liberalise the market in services will benefit Ireland” Mr Cowen, Finance minister has recently declared. However, the directive has become in France an object of hate and mass demonstrations.

Following enlargement, it is feared that the new directive will enable social dumping if it becomes law. The opponents of the legislation believe France, already weakened by a sluggish economy, will be overwhelmed by cheap labour stealing millions of jobs. Since the services directive symbolizes everything that's wrong about Europe and since French are not allowed to vote against it, they are ready to reject the Constitution which is also condemned for being too liberalism-friendly and endangering the “European social model”.

To prevent such a result and to appease the ire of France, and Denmark and Sweden, which have rallied Jacques Chirac’s fight, European statesmen and Commission members have thus on Wednesday agreed to alter the text.

Charlie McCreevy, has acknowledged the directive is unacceptable in its current form. He promised to exempt healthcare and other public "services of general interest" from the project, in order to dispel fears that the directive could lead to the privatisation of public services. He has also assured member states and MEPs, who are now considering the plan, that he would heartily welcome amendments to ensure it does not lead to social dumping and to define more clearly the "country of origin" principle.

Even, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, a convinced advocate of the directive has declared it was clear that changes were necessary but underlined that it did not mean a withdrawal of the plan.
"It was made absolutely clear by the Presidency last night and by the Commission and by everybody else that there is no question of scrapping it, no question of starting again. It is a question of trying to work to get the necessary compromises based on the input by interested parties to try to get it right"

However, this concession does not go without compensation. Commission members such as its President Jose Manuel Barroso and European politicians are very critical of the attitude of French political leaders. They accuse them of failing to promote the Constitution properly. The ball is now in the court of French politicians. It’s up to the “Yes camp” to disentangle the debate on the constitutional treaty from the Bolkestein issue and to secure a “yes vote” on May 29th.

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