80,000 march in Brussels

Protesting against the evil invasion of Iraq? Nope, protesting against the evil European Council's moves to open up the services' market. The left is upset that measures meant to improve competition in the services markey might lead to lower pay and longer working hours. Such is the furore in France, it now looks like the upcoming EU constition might actually be rejected by voters. Euobserver summarises:

Ostensibly meeting to discuss the relaunch of the so-called Lisbon Strategy – the EU’s economic reform agenda – it was clear that the services directive had dominated the discussions.

Secretary-General of the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC), John Monks, set the tone at the post-meeting press conference when he stated, "we would like the Commission to reconsider and redraw the services directive and preferably start again".

Pointing out that over 80,000 people had marched against the directive in Brussels at the weekend, he nevertheless stressed that the services directive and the Constitution were different issues.

Breaking into French – an ironic gesture to the French referendum campaign which has linked the two issues – the British Secretary-General said, "ils ne sont pas la meme chose" (they are not the same thing).

The article also discusses the bureaucratic maneuvering and desperate attempts to save face. Europeans are certainly an inscrutable bunch.