Demonstration planned against Bolkestein

The Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is to be met with protests later today, 18 October, during a visit to Berlin. Demonstrators will protest against a planned directive from his department which would liberalise public services such as health and education. Opponents of the new law fear that it will cause a lowering of standards in these services across the EU.

If they could name one area which has seen lower levels of service after liberalisation they should mention it. The lack of market incentives in public services means that they are for the most part hugely inefficient and deliver what the provider, not the consumer wants. What opponents of the new law really fear is a dilution of the blackmail powers of the unions. Of course there was nothing stopping individual states from liberalising these sectors in the first place so the value of this idea is limited, but it is nice to see that some Eurocrats understand the power of markets.