Norway to adopt EU services directive
(OSLO) - Non-European Union member Norway will adopt an EU directive liberalising services despite a division within the government on the issue, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
The Scandinavian country, which applies most EU regulations owing to its membership in the European Economic Area, will not ask for an exemption as the Centrist and Socialist Left parties had demanded.
The two parties are junior coalition partners of Stoltenberg's Labour party.
"It's a good directive," Stoltenberg told reporters.
The directive removes legal and administrative barriers to the development of service activities carried out in other EU member states, making it easier for businesses to provide and use cross-border services with the goal of increasing competition and bringing down prices.
The European parliament adopted the directive in 2006, after the most divisive points were struck from the text. One of the most contested points removed required a company to follow the laws of the country where its headquarters was based and not in the member state where it was doing business temporarily.
The Centrist and Socialist Left parties said they would continue to oppose the directive but would not go so far as to quit the government.
But the Labour Party has the support of most of the right-wing opposition on the issue.
The text is expected to be adopted in parliament in 2009 and enter into force in 2010.
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