The Directive on services in the internal market (commonly referred to as the Bolkestein Directive) is an initiative of the European Commission (EC) aimed at creating a single market for services within the European Union (EU), similar to the single market for goods already present.

I believe the proposed legislation need not have been amended. The proposal already contained a clause protecting essential services(referred to as services of general interest (SGI)) and in my opinion no other exceptions where necessary.

In light of social responsibility we need to define and protect essential services. In a rush to make the EC "the world's most dynamic and competitive economy" we tend to overlook this subject.