International

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang expressed his satisfaction with the contents of a letter he received today from Economic Affairs Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst in which Mr Brinkhorst informed him that the government supported the exemption of port services from the terms of the Services Directive, currently under negotiation in the EU Council of Ministers.

A few weeks ago confusion arose during a debate on the European Services Directive. The impression was given that the government was not in favour of an explicit exemption of port services from the directive's stipulations. Irrgang expressed “great annoyance” over this, given the effort that trade unions, along with the SP's Members of the European Parliament, to have the Port Services Directive thrown out, an effort that proved to be completely successful. “Liberalisation of port services should of course not be spirited in through the back door with the support of our government, via the Services Directive,” Irrgang said. “It was therefore extremely important to us that we received a clear answer, which now, happily, the minister has provided.”