The implementation of the Lisbon Strategy has proved difficult, given the essential ambiguity of 'competitiveness' as a policy goal, and the divergence in economic performance across Europe (ibid.:480). This is highlighted in the case of the Services Directive, which was focused on completion of the internal market in services (with a single market having been effectively created for goods,following the abolition of internal tariffs and reforms to state support for domestic industries). The Services Directive, as initially framed, stated that 'service providers offering a temporary service outside their country of origin would be subject only to the national of the member state in which they are established, regardless of where they provide a service' - described as the ' country of origin' principle (Loder,2011:572). This would, obviously service providers- meaning that, for example, their staff would not have been subject to the same rules concerning minimum wages, sickness pay and redundancy as ataff employed by domestically-owned businesses. In the event, the ' country of origin' principle was removed by the European Parliament and substituted for the principle of the 'freedom to provide service' which is likely to provide 'host member states with more option for restricting services' (ibid.:576-7).