Ministers reach deal on services directive[fr][de] 

The original draft directive on services (the 'Bolkestein' directive) became one of the most controversial pieces of EU legislation in the run-up to the Constitutional referenda in the Netherlands and France in 2005. The new law prescribes the rules for companies and indivduals to offer their services in other EU member states than their country of origin. As the services sector makes up 70% of the EU's GNP, the cross-border opening of this sector was seen by business as one of the main instruments to underpin the EU's strategy for economic growth and jobs (the 'Lisbon' agenda).

But strong social opposition brought the original proposal down and the Commission had to re-introduce a new, more watered-down proposal to get its plans through Parliament. In the Parliament's first reading in February 2006, a controversial compromise was found, which reduced the scope of the legislation, excluding several sectors which had originally been covered by the Bolkestein proposal (see EurActiv 16 Febr. 2006).

After the Parliament vote, the reactions of stakeholders were very mixed with most social organisations and trade unions welcoming the compromise but business federations such as UNICE and AmCham EU being disappointed with the controversial compromise (see EurActiv 17 Febr. 2006).

On 29 May 2006, the EU ministers followed in broad lines the new Commission proposal as amended by the Parliament. Ironically, this happened one year to the day after the "Non" vote on the EU draft constitution in France, where the services directive had been one of the main controversies.