McCreevy stands ground in EU row

EU COMMISSIONER Charlie McCreevy stood his ground before the European Parliament yesterday and insisted he would not be frightened into keeping quiet about matters he felt strongly about.

He was defending his stance in a labour law row between Sweden and Latvia, saying he does not question the Scandinavian social model, but wants to see it respecting Europe's internal market.

"If members of this house expect me to creep around quietly and not upset some member states and some members of the European Parliament then I am afraid they are going to be disappointed," he said.

The internal market commissioner appeared before the parliament after MEPs asked him to explain recent remarks he made on Sweden's employment relations.

He told parliamentarians he found it "extraordinary" he had to justify his statements in support of freedom to provide services referred to by the Latvians as he merely defended the basic EU's rules on the internal market.

The former Finance Minister denied he had prejudged the row between a Latvian company building a school in Sweden that refused to pay rates agreed between the government and the construction unions.

Mr McCreevy quoted his own record as being a leading defender of the model of Irish social partnership to prove he was a supporter of social partnership.

One of his greatest critics is Dublin Labour MEP Proinsias de Rossa.

He accused Mr McCreevy of using bulldozer tactics that would not work in the EU where he had to build consensus.

"The Irish Celtic tiger model which you claim credit for has given us 150,000 children living in poverty in Ireland and, only last week, a case of a man dying needlessly for the want of simple surgery in our hospital system," he said.

"Commissioner, your social model is failing..

"Sweden spends €200 on social protection for every €100 spent in Ireland. Yet Sweden is the third-most competitive economy in the world, whereas Ireland is 26th."

The parliament is divided on the Services Directive which Mr McCreevy is responsible for and which they fear will impose the pay and conditions operating in the poorest member state on the others.

The conservatives and liberals backed Mr McCreevy and accused their left-leaning colleagues of populism.

Leader of the centre-right EPP, Hans-Gert Poettering, said: "It is not politically clever to simply accuse Brussels of everything."

But the Socialists argued the whole debate was about the quality of jobs Europeans want.

Socialist leader Martin Schultz advised the commission president to "put the brakes" on "neo-liberal" commissioners such as Mr McCreevy or the Dutch Neelie Kroes, in charge of competition, to demonstrate support for the European social model and to receive the group's support.