MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/CAE31AD2/ARTICLE52.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" [ARTICLE 52]

SINGLE MARKET:

LIBERALISATION OF UK SERVICES

NOW SUBJECT TO CO-DECISION PROCEDURE

[ARTICLE 52]

 

 

AMENDMENT TO: Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and t= he Treaty establishing the European Community (Lisbon, 13 December 2007)<= /span>

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Policy Area:

Treaty= on the Functioning of the European Union, Part Three Policies and Internal Act= ions of the Union, Title III – Free movement of persons, services and capi= tal, Chapter 3 – Services, Article 52

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<= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Lisb= on Treaty: =

“= ;58) In Article 52(1), the words "the Council shall, on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament, issue" shall be replaced by "the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislat= ive procedure and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee, shall issue".”     

 

Consolidated Treaty Article(s):

“Article 52

1. I= n order to achieve the liberalisation of a speci= fic service, the Council shall, on a proposal from the Commission and after con= sulting the Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament, issue direct= ives acting by a qualified majority.

2. As regards the directives referred to in paragraph 1, priority s= hall as a general rule be given to those services whi= ch directly affect production costs or the liberalisation of which helps to promote trade in goods.”

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Expl= anation:

The Lisbon Treaty extends “the ordinary legislative procedure” (co-decision) to directives relating to the liberalisation of a specific service. The Council will continue to act by QMV and it must be noted that the co-decision procedure already applies to services legislation.

 

To put such an immense concentration of power in = the hands of the European Parliament on the push towards l= iberalisation at a time when a European determined liberalisation of postal services has brought local British postal services to their knees would be to sign the death warrant of hundreds of British jobs and indeed t= heir employing British companies. The way in which specific UK services are liber= alised must be left to the devices of the initiatives of economic enterprise in th= e UK, und= er the mild regulatory approach taken by the UK Government, in order to properly pursue this objective. To liberalise the UK mar= kets within a European single market which is currently lacking in economic competitiveness and loaded with regulatory burdens, not to mention overtly protectionist, would be to destroy the very model of British competitivenes= s we should be aiming to protect.  =