Services directive to take stage at summit

[struggle4progress]

<snip> The idea was simple enough: create a seamless market across the 25 member states where anyone, from bricklayers to fashion designers, work according to the rules of the nation concerned. The only question is: which nation - the country where the work is plied or the one the workers come from?

In the first case it would cement social protection and the concept of the welfare state as Europe has known it. Anyone working in Germany would have to abide by German labor laws. Work would be more expensive, though, and involve lots of red tape for the visiting workers.

The second case raises the specter of workers from low-wage, low-protection nations coming in and scooping up jobs. A Polish company bringing its workers across the Oder river to paint houses in Germany would be subject to Polish taxes and labor laws - which should make the work cheaper for consumers, but risk undercutting German competitors. <snip>

When about 60,000 protesters converged on Brussels over the weekend, a surprisingly large show of opposition, the Bolkestein proposal was dubbed the "Frankenstein" directive. <snip>

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=EU%20Summit%20Social%20Split