Allister debates Services Directive
15 November 2006
During the 2nd reading debate in Strasbourg on the Services Directive, designed to bring the provision of services into the single market (like already exists re persons, goods and capital), MEP Jim Allister welcomed concessions made since the first reading, but outlined continuing concerns about cheap labour resulting from foreign service providers with temporary status in host nations.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"The abandonment of the country of origin principle and the reduction in services covered, particularly the omission of social services and non-economic services, makes this Directive a more palatable proposition that when it was last debated.
However, I retain some concerns, not least the rush to timetable harmonisation of national legislation on the provision of services, with its inevitable avalanche of regulation, and the fear that insecure jobs will result from foreign service providers paying low minimum wages, thus, creating unfair competition for native workers, made worse if they can maintain temporary status in the host state, for, then, they escape national host controls.
On one specific, I welcome the fact gambling activities will be outside the ambit of the Directive. The inclusion of such would have fed the growth of this destructive industry and added to the misery and social instability which it so often spawns."
