Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I supported strongly my good friend Jacques Chirac in the debate. We were in favour of the services directive, but so was President Chirac. At the meeting, very few people argued that it should stay in its present form. I can only recall two or three who spoke in favour of it staying in its present form. Prior to Christmas, the Commission conceded that it would not get sufficient support in its present form.

I can only say to Deputy Rabbitte that it will not be that easy. As with other directives, everybody states they are in favour of the principles while being opposed to the details. There are different sides to the argument. President Chirac is not seeking anything extraordinarily unreasonable on this issue, from what I have heard of his presentation, not only at the last European Council meeting but at a number of such meetings. The interpretation of the directive, particularly in France where there have been large protests against it but not only there, was that it was seen as inflexible, unbalanced and unhelpful. This relates to the fact, which is feeding into the French referendum campaign, that unemployment in France has exceeded 10% for the first time in a long time. The French economy is in quite considerable difficulty and this is having a negative effect on political life there. They have reverted to the type of unemployment rates that have not been seen in France for a long time.

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