Compromise deal agreed on European Union's Services Sector

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Compromise deal agreed on European Union's Services Sector

The European Union on Wednesday agreed a compromise deal on a controversial law to open the Union’s services market to more cross-border competition, that will likely be adopted in the European Parliament next week. Wednesday's agreement was thrashed out by the largest parliamentary groups – the centre-right European People’s Party and the Socialists – and may end many years of controversy over the EU services directive.The Directive covers services from architects to catering, advertising and technology consulting, and has raised fears of so-called social dumping - expensive workers in the west being undercut by cheaper rivals from the East. The compromise deal will end many of the anti-competitive obstacles encountered by service providers, but member countries will retain the right to impose conditions on their activities for reasons including protection of health and the environment, social security, public security or “public policy”.