The Senate later approved putting off the implementation of the directive until the end of next year.
The directive, named after former EU internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein, aims to create a free market for the services sector by requiring the reissue of tenders for commercial activities such as markets, stalls and food trucks.
The traders succeeded in their goal of being admitted to the Senate and heard by the Upper House's Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Rome City Council recently voted against implementing the directive, in a move that was seen as playing into the hands of the powerful Tredicine clan who hold a virtual monopoly over mobile sandwich bars in the Italian capital.
With ANSA
