The Twenty-five agree on the draft “services” directive

On 29 May, the Finance Ministers of the EU 25 finally reached an agreement on the "services" directive. According to the Council, the text presented by the Austrian presidency respects the compromise adopted by the European Parliament as well as the modified proposal presented by the European Commission. (Ref. 06539)
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Discussions had lasted for almost 9 hours, and the Austrian presidency has to twice modify its original proposal, the first time after hearing the first observations of the Member States, then a second time, after very critical interventions from Slovakia, the Netherlands, Italy and Lithuania, which finally abstained during the vote. The Commission agreed to extend the transposition deadline from two to three years.

“Screening” process. The most controversial points, as the conclusions of the C

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