Brussels, 20/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - Meeting on Wednesday 19 May in Strasbourg, under the presidency of Jerzy Buzek, MEPs held a joint discussion in the afternoon on the EUROPE 2020 strategy (EUROPE 10142). They examined a raft of reports related to the morning debate on the necessity of implementing stricter economic and financial governance (EUROPE 10142). The question of whether to postpone the joint resolution on the EU 2020 strategy to the June plenary session was discussed at the Conference of Presidents. EP President Jerzy Buzek warned the presidents of the political groups about the support for postponing the vote in question to the 15th or 16th of June, just before the European Summit. The idea is, in fact, to wait until there is a solid majority at the vote. The EPP and ALDE voted for the postponement, while the S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL opposed it. The majority were in favour of the postponement and the vote on the joint resolution was postponed by 372 votes in favour, 270 against and 9 abstentions until the June session.
Regional policy. The rapporteur on, “implementation of synergies between funding for research and innovation in the regulation on ERDF and the 7th research and development framework-programme for cities and regions and EU member states”, Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, the Netherlands), made three observations in his report: (1) Europe does possess 1st category research but this lacks innovation and research resources for the market; (2) a quarter of European Regional Funds go to research and research and innovation infrastructures. Earmarking has had a certain effect, and in regions and cities there is an increasing trend to specialisation and the knowledge society; (3) it is important to establish a link between innovation and production in terms of efficiency. The regional dimension plays a role in this context but when EU money is invested, cooperation from the knowledge institutions is required. The report by Van Nistelrooij was adopted by 559 votes in favour, 18 against and 36 abstentions. Ricardo Cortés Lastra (S&D, Spain), rapporteur on the “contribution of cohesion policy to achieving the Lisbon objectives and the EUROPE 2020 strategy” explained that, “cohesion policy should be defended as a strong policy with sufficient funding and promoted in all regions and the EU 2020 strategy”. The report calls for a spending evaluation in order to assess its effective impact. It is important to enhance cooperation between regional economic and social actors in order to maintain the EU 2020 strategy's credibility. The rapporteur also said they wanted greater coherency between regional and national policy. The Cortés Lastra report was adopted by a show of hands, without any changes.
Public finances. The rapporteur on the long-term viability of public finances in the context of economic recovery, French Socialist Liêm Hoang Ngoc, pointed out that the markets were failing to assess the risks, “in the context of the huge uncertainty currently being experienced by the economy”, and this is why it is up to the European institutions to identify, “the most appropriate moment for developing a crisis exit strategy”. According to Hoang Ngoc, it is necessary to ratify an anti-cyclical budgetary policy that would enable states to make loans under the cycle rates. In his opinion it would be sensible to focus on the structural deficit indicators rather than those of the current deficit. Hoang Ngoc recommends that support measures are maintained as long as the recovery remains fragile and to proceed to an evaluation of tax spending efficiency. He deplored the fact that in the committee, conservatives and liberals stuck, “to their blind faith in the markets”. In these conditions, he is presenting new amendments, which call, in particular, for a flexible application of the Stability Pact (to avoid excessive austerity measures) and to set up a public rating agency, “to remove member states from the diktats of the markets”. See other article for the Hoang Ngoc report.
Employment and the social dimension. Pervenche Berès (S&D, France), who chairs the employment and social affairs committee, expressed her concerns to the committee: (1) the objective of fighting poverty, as part of the EU 2020 strategy on the initiative of Commissioner Laszlo Andor (employment, social affairs, inclusion) has been the subject of a number of hesitations at the Council, which is incomprehensible; (2) the articulation and coherency of the different policies. Fundamental change cannot be reduced to reducing the number of objectives. She explained that they held the conviction that the 2020 strategy must take the situation in the EU into account and it was therefore necessary to invest in our long-term capital - education, training and health.
Consumers. “Providing consumers with a single market”: to protect and promote a single market with a human dimension, which really is at the service of its citizens. According to rapporteur Louis Grech, a Maltese socialist, it is necessary to provide this market with a, “new impetus on the basis of a pragmatic agreement”, which takes into account citizens' uncertainties and needs, as well of the concerns of SMEs and the dangers of protectionism resulting from the crisis. The Grech report was adopted by 578 votes in favour, 28 against, with 16 abstentions.
Education. In the context of cuts to the national education budgets, Mary Honeyball (S&D, United Kingdom) regretted the fact that the crisis had led to reductions in the education sector in the EU and underlined the differences in funding between the member states. Speaking on behalf of the budget committee, Ivailo Kalfin (S&D, Bulgaria) asserted that given the crisis, the 2020 strategy did not appear ambitious. There had been coordination but this had proved insufficient in a crisis period. In the future, Europe must be more ambitious.
Political groups. Speaking on behalf the EPP group, Othmar Karas from Austria sees the 2020 strategy as one element in a Europe that is seeking to become a genuine United States of Europe (his remarks provoked certain protests from the sovereigntists). In practice, he is calling for efficient action instruments (including sanctions), impact studies, the implementation of the Small Business Act and more substantial efforts in the research and development arena. Marita Ulvskog from Sweden said that the S&D group wanted to go beyond the limited measures: there was talk of reforming Greek pensions but asked what was being said about the big banks and major industries. She said that there had to be a change of direction and investment in the common good, involvement of everybody, including the poorest members of society: there will be no recovery if everyone remains isolated, she explained. Her compatriot from the ALDE group, Lena Ek, was on the same wavelength and called for projects that would work to ensure the success of an “open, inclusive and green” Europe, which respected women's rights, the needs of young people looking for work and energy efficiency. The report by Mario Monti highlights the need for European tax coordination, explained Pascal Canfin (Greens/EFA, France) but the 2020 Strategy says nothing about this. In his opinion, the criteria of the Stability Pact should not exclusively be based on spending; they also need to look at revenue (in this context, he mentioned the role of, “economic actors who were increasingly able to evade taxes, companies and capital”. If the contrary occurs, he explained, they would “be on track for economic recession and social regression”. Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL, Germany) protested that Parliament should be more involved in the definition of this strategy. The MEP explained that they had a lot of ideas but that they should not be content with simply being “listened to”. This is especially appropriate to the fight against poverty and the fight for jobs: 60% of work contracts are “a-typical”, temporary, when in fact it was by the creation of stable jobs that recovery could be ensured. Bastiaan Belder (EFD, the Netherlands) also recognised the need to take into account social questions (employment, cohesion). Nonetheless, he believed that they can define objectives but not impose them at a European level.
During the debate, the British Conservative, Malcolm Harbour, (shadow reporter) on the Grech report agreed with Pervenche Berès that the broad debate at Parliament had been somewhat “diffuse”, as was, in his opinion, the 2020 strategy document. Harbour is hoping that the European Council will not make a final decision at its June session and added that they had to work together on the details to obtain greater consensus from citizens.
Sergio Cofferati (S&D, Italy) warned that they were currently running a risk of being, “conditioned by the urgency of the situation”. This meant that they were focusing on consolidation but forgetting that the Stability Pact was also a pact for growth and that they should, be talking about a Stability Pact for growth. According to the MEP, it was now the right time to give investors confidence again and enhance the cohesion instrument because cohesion is, “a very important factor in growth”.
The 2020 strategy is not just a vision but also a concrete programme, asserted European Commissioner Michel Barnier (internal market, services): it is also, “the first instrument of strengthened and coordinated economic policy”. Barnier affirmed that since March he had insisted on the need to clean up public finances, as well as supervise and regulate the markets, which should be at the service of the real economy. The Commissioner promised that the Commission would stick by its roadmap and put a project on the table within a year that ought to be able to regain the trust of citizens by, “releasing the potential of our economy, including the social dimension”. What is actually being talked about when EUROPE 2020 is mentioned? This means urgently resolving the crisis and also preparing the economy in the medium and short term, for objectives on employment, energy, climate change, social justice and education. Indicators on education and social inclusion will be available from June. As usual, implementation will be crucial: it is therefore important to send out a clear message to member states and citizens.
For the next programming period, the approach will be more results-focused, announced Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, “and this will be the great progress of the EU 2020 strategy in comparison to the Lisbon Treaty. We will have to show that we are able to transform European objectives into local regional and national objectives. In this way, we will be able to better forecast the results”. The Commissioner added that regional policy is an investment policy in all the regions, which will ultimately benefit from successful investment. Mr Hahn also said that they should keep something in mind: two thirds of European exports and those of member states go to EU countries, “the 26 other countries, then. Subsequently, if the situation in the countries is positive, the others will also benefit. This is the objective we need to pursue”.
Laszlo Andor highlighted the importance of involving the EP in all the different stages of the EU 2020 strategy. Mr Andor explained that, “recognising the fact that the economic and financial crisis is more complex than a simple budgetary deficit and that there are dysfunctions within the basic financial system is an essential element for getting out of this impasse”. He also said that, “there are no other alternatives to the EU 2020 strategy to Europe. If we don't succeed with it, we will experience economic and political decline”. He underlined the fact that the lessons to draw from the failure in the Lisbon Treaty were illustrated in the intervention made by Sean Kelly (EPP, Ireland), who said that reforms had to produce something and that after the June summit, member states had to put them into practice. He concluded that they needed to provide citizens with solutions whilst preparing the groundwork for inclusive economic growth and doing it in a coordinated manner. (G.B./L.G./transl.fl)