Article 53

Member States shall not introduce any new restrictions on the right of establishment  in their territories of nationals of other Member States, save as otherwise provided  in this Treaty.

Article 54

1. Before the end of the first stage, the Council shall, acting unanimously on a  proposal from the Commission and after consulting the Economic and Social  Committee and the European Parliament, draw up a general programme for the  abolition of existing restrictions on freedom of establishment within the Community. The Commission shall submit its proposal to the Council during the first two years of  the first stage.

The programme shall set out the general conditions under which freedom of  establishment it to be attained in the case of each type of activity and in particular the  stages by which it is to be attained.

2. In order to implement this general programme or, in the absence of such a programme, in order to achieve a stage in attaining freedom of establishment as  regards a particular activity, the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure  referred to in Article 189b and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee,  shall act by means of directives. ( * )

( * ) Paragraph 2 as amended by Article G ( 11 ) TEU.

3. The Council and the Commission shall carry out the duties devolving upon them  under the preceding provisions, in particular:

a. by according, as a general rule, priority treatment to activities where freedom  of establishment makes a particularly valuable contribution to the development  of production and trade;
b. by ensuring close cooperation between the competent authorities in the Member  States in order to ascertain the particular situation within the Community of the  various activities concerned;
c. by abolishing those administrative procedures and practices, whether resulting  from national legislation or from agreements previously concluded between  Member States, the maintenance of which would form an obstacle to freedom of  establishment;  
d. by ensuring that workers of one Member State employed in the territory of  another Member State may remain in that territory for the purpose of taking up  activities therein as self employed persons, where they satisfy the conditions  which they would be required to satisfy if they were entering that State at the  time when they intended to take up such activities;

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