Services Provision and Temporary Mobility: Freedoms and Regulation in the EU

Abstract

International posting of workers and mobility of self-employed service suppliers lie between outright migration and trade in goods: their regulation, for both distributional and market correcting purposes, is not as difficult to harmonize as that of labour markets, but personal mobility is more visible and socially intrusive than product market interactions. This paper analyzes economic and legal tensions between national regulatory frameworks and international competition in these areas, in both the intra-EU and global contexts, highlighting how interactions between the external and internal roles of the European Commission may foster efficient integration of markets and policies in this and other fields.

Keywords: Economic integration, Trade in services, GATS, European Union, Labour regulation, Services regulation, Harmonization, Posted workers

JEL Classification: Z00