Directive puts social services at risk
This directive, proposed by Ireland’s member of the European Commission, Charlie McCreevy, is based on the ‘country of origin’ principle, which means services can be provided under the rules and standards of the country where a company is established, rather than the country where the service is provided.
This is a recipe for a race to the bottom, forcing countries to lower conditions to attract investment. It is even easier for a service company to move its head office to another country, and therefore follow the rules of the new country than it is for a manufacturing company to move its factories.
