Confusion over the application of the services directive: the Fr and Eng versions differ on social services

(B2) The publication by the European Commission's DG Internal Market of an application guide on the Services Directive has caused confusion within the social sector because the French and English versions of the text differ significantly on one major point: the question of the management of social services. It should be remembered that the Services Directive had excluded from its scope social services “mandated” by a public authority. The services of the Commission added to this obligation, “the obligation” to provide these services, in the English version... But they did not mention this second condition in the French version.

I started by questioning the spokesperson for the Commission, who started by kicking things off. Obviously he didn't know (or was pretending not to). Then at my insistence, he ended up answering, a little overwhelmed. "But you just have to choose the version that suits you. As you are French, it will be the French version".

A little more seriously, I returned to the charge during a "technical briefing" attended by specialists from DG Internal Market and DG Employment. The explanation of the official, who requested anonymity, could not have been clearer. " We do not want a vague mandate, generally carried out by a law, a decree. Mandating the service must be precise and effective, targeting a given service. It is in this sense that we have established the obligation for the service concerned to “provide the service”. Sinon "it's the door open to fictitious mandates ", he added.

(NGV)