EU closer to limited opening of cross border services

Poland is supported by a few other new EU members, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well the Netherlands, Great Britain and Spain. However, it is evident that divisions over this issue are too deep to introduce full liberalization in the services market, but the currently discussed version of the EU Services Directive might facilitate doing business for entrepreneurs. Moreover, representatives of EU member states are very inventive in blocking indirectly the freedom of the flow of services. One of the proposals made on Monday envisages the ban on the discrimination of service providers based on their nationality, language, legal status or seat of the company. Countries would be protected against foreign providers of services based on the catalogue of protected sectors, such as public interest, which are provided or licensed by the state, or on the protection of public interest. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) M.M.