Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-11-Speech-3-170"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20091111.17.3-170"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, as has been said before, we have discussed all the questions surrounding all the different social and other aspects of this directive. I do not think we should reopen this discussion now, but we do have to look to the Member States to see how they have implemented or will implement the directive. On the basis of the already available information, it does seem that a majority of Member States will have completed the implementation either by the end of the year or maybe the beginning of 2010.
On the small and medium-sized enterprises, of course, we are of the same opinion as you. They are the backbone of the EU economy and their concerns are at the heart of the Services Directive.
So this directive will benefit all businesses, but SMEs will benefit most, and at the present time, SMEs very often decide to stay at home because of all the legal complexities and also because of the absence of transparent information. Therefore, the Services Directive will do away with many of these complexities and – we all think – give a boost to them.
To the Commission’s knowledge, no Member State is using the implementation of the Services Directive to reduce workers’ rights. I would like to say that very clearly. Workers’ rights as such are not affected or dealt with by the Services Directive. Indeed, this was clearly a result of the practical and political compromise reached by both Parliament and the Council.
Finally, I would like to reiterate that Parliament has been a key partner throughout the history of the Services Directive. Over the past three years, the Commission has found it important to keep you involved in the implementation process and informed about our work with the Member States and, as was mentioned earlier, this will remain a key action to making the internal market work better, to deliver the growth and jobs we need. Proper implementation is therefore the most pressing issue, especially in the current difficult economic crisis.
So I think one can also say that most Member States will at least have set up the basic single contact point and will therefore be ready to comply with their administrative cooperation agreements and obligations.
In some cases, however, there might be delays as far as the changes in the legal framework are concerned.
With regard to the review process, some Member States have taken the opportunity of the review to simplify laws and procedures and have made a considerable number of changes. Other Member States have enacted only a few amendments, and the number of changes made of course depends on several factors including the existing regulatory framework and also the internal organisation of Member States: in federal states, it is more complicated than for others.
Of course, this also depends on the willingness of a Member State to simplify laws and procedures.
With regard to the question of proper implementation, my colleague, Charlie McCreevy, has, on many occasions, drawn the attention of members of the Member States’ governments to the importance of the work on implementation, and he and his staff have followed and monitored the implementation process very closely.
Indeed, as I said before, during the last three years, more than 80 bilateral meetings with all the Member States were held, and expert groups met in Brussels over 30 times. So we have been very active on that. And we will continue to follow Member States’ work and will also continue to provide technical assistance if desired by the Member States. But in the end, it is also clearly the Member States’ responsibility to do the work and also allocate the necessary resources.
As regards next year, I think it will be crucial to ensure that the process of mutual evaluation provided for in the directive is used in a constructive way. We will also have to assess the quality of implementation of the legislation, as was asked, monitor the functioning of the single contact points and then also get feedback from businesses and from consumers.
Last but not least, we may also need to resort to other enforcement mechanisms – sometimes maybe to infringement cases, but it is too early now to say that."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples