Eurotrash - The latest from Brussels
WORKERS, FEB 2006 ISSUE
Please, can we have some more?
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly rejected the EU budget deal negotiated by Blair and other EU leaders in December. But, characteristically, MEPs said that the current budget deal is "unacceptably low"! Last year, the Parliament proposed a budget of 975 billion euros, much higher than the 862 billion euros agreed in December. A new draft budget is expected by mid-February.Bolkestein comes back
Jose Barroso and the new Austrian EU presidency are set to try to push through the controversial Services Directive (known as the Bolkestein directive). Barroso has said that the Commission will produce a compromise package on the Services Directive for the EU leaders' economic summit in March.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel added that getting a speedy agreement on the directive was essential. The Services Directive has come under fierce criticism from trade unions across Europe who warn that it will undermine social and working conditions. The European Parliament is due to vote on the current text of the directive in February.
Fascinating, fascinating
The incoming Austrian presidency of the EU looks set to try to revive the EU Constitution, which it calls a "fascinating document". Austria has announced plans to have a road-map for the revival of the rejected EU Constitution in place by an EU leaders' summit in June. Chancellor Schussel says, "We have promised ourselves that we will restart the negotiations on the Constitution." He adds, "The Constitution is hard and difficult to revive, but it's possible."
Against, but not against?
EU Communications Commissioner Margot Wallstrom argues that the electorate in Holland and France did not actually vote against the EU Constitution itself: "We know that with each referendum which covers Constitutional issues you do run the risk of getting an answer to a question you haven't put." Oddly, she did not argue that those who voted for the EU Constitution did not mean to...