Poland finds more and more allies to amend the EU Services Directive

"The Service Directive is a caricature," said Economy Minister Piotr Woźniak assessing the new proposal of the law. The EU is strongly divided over the directive and, "Polarization of opinions are clearly visible," said Woźniak. The main opponents of the liberalization of the law are France, Germany and Belgium, but in total this group consists of 15 countries. Other EU member states, including Poland, declared their willingness to support an amendment allowing to provide services according to the country of origin. According to unofficial sources, not only the European Union and the European Council are divided over the issue, but also EU commissioners who potentially should not be representing national interests. Apart from Danuta Huebner, also Peter Mandelson from the UK, Neelie Kroes from the Netherlands and Laszlo Kovacs from Hungary support changes to the directive. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B2) M.M.