While the EPP-ED (conservative) and PSE (socialist) group managed to get all of the compromise amendments adopted that they had previously agreed on, none of the two managed to get a considerable amount of their own amendments adopted. Those parties opposing a far-reaching liberalisation of the services market, with the Greens and the GUE(left-wing) group at the helm, did not manage to get any of their substantial amendments adopted, nor did the ALDE (liberal) group, which has taken the position that the Commission's draft was watered down too much by the the two bigger groups.
In a last-ditch move contested by the Green, GUE and ALDE groups, the socialists and conservatives managed to remove exceptions for social policy and consumer protection from a crucial amendment on Article 16 - the Article formerly entitled "Country of origin principle". The Greens tried to have the article re-tabled in its previous form, including the exception, but were turned down by Parliament President Josep Borrell.
The Directive got 394 'Yes' votes in the Plenary - 70 fewer than the two big groups taken together. This number corresponds roughly to two thirds of both groups' MEPs from the central and south-central European countries who joined the EU in 2003.
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy welcomed the vote: "I am convinced that we can have a workable services directive which will provide real value added. In all of this, the challenge is to get the balance right. We need a directive that will facilitate the cross-border provision of services and at the same time, we need to ensure that legitimate public policy considerations can be safeguarded." Commissioner McCreevy announced: "On the Commission side we will begin work on preparing a modified proposal based on the vote in the European Parliament. I look now to the Council of Ministers to complete the work which has been done by Parliament."
Click here for a detailed outcome of the vote (indicative document prepared by EurActiv).
EurActiv will follow up with more coverage shortly.
