Brussels, 15/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 June, a group of 16 European think tanks (*) presented its recommendations for the next three rotating Presidencies of the EU which, as "Presidential trio", have drafted a joint work programme: Poland (second half of 2011), Denmark (first half of 2012) and Cyprus (second half of 2012). The "12 key recommendations" developed in the "Think Global - Act European" report (available at http://www.notre-europe.eu/en/tgae ) deal with:
The completion of the single market. The adoption of the new legislation on the single market must remain one of the priorities of the 27, “which must return to the method of legislative packages recommended by Mario Monti”, in order to facilitate compromises and avoid further “à la carte arbitrations” which may end up paralysing any ambitious project. Specific attention must be paid to the feasibility of the new European financial monitoring system, particularly in the field of banking regulation. The forthcoming stress tests must be more rigorous and more transparent to create a solid basis for the required recapitalisation and restructuring of the banking establishments of certain member states.
Economic governance. The EU should focus on stimulating growth by investing in key sectors such as R&D, infrastructure and energy, stress the think tanks, which go on to plead in favour of “innovative financial instruments such as European bond loans”. The experts are also of the opinion that the European stability mechanism (EMS) will unquestionably not be able to allow a forced bankruptcy of member states which become insolvent and need to carry out a restructuring of their debt. In order to facilitate the last of these and make it more predictable in the future, the members would have to go beyond the current framework and create the legal basis for a formal mechanism allowing a majority of creditors (private and public) and the debtor to reach a correct and flexible agreement.
Budgetary reform. If the EU wants to boost growth, evolve into a low-carbon economy and reinforce its cohesion (objectives which will take major investment), “it must ensure that it has the resources to fit its ambitions”. The negotiations on the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020 must focus on increases in efficiency, to be made by means of better coordination of national and Community expenditure (particularly in the diplomatic services, defence and research). The think tanks also feel that it is necessary to create new EU own-resources, fed into by a European VAT or European tax on energy or carbon emissions. These new resources would help to increase the overall volume of the budget with independent sources of income. “An initiative of this kind would mark a first step towards a diversification of Community funding”. For this reason, therefore, it must be considered “seriously”, the experts recommend. In order to avoid deadlock in negotiations over the funding of the CAP, one option could be to co-fund the first pillar of the CAP whilst at the same time carrying out an in-depth reform of the policy. Lastly, in order to avoid a “two-speed” economic integration of the EU and to boost the competitiveness of the least-developed member states, the European cohesion policy should become the principal development and investment policy of the EU, to be given the funding it needs under the next MFF.
The EU's action in the world. The EU should compensate for the “slowness” of its reaction to the pro-democratic requests of the countries south of the Mediterranean by committing more firmly in future in favour of democratic transition, without letting up in its policies towards its neighbours in the East. The EU should also consolidate its asylum, migration and borders control policy. Schengen must not be dismantled. However, the focus should be on the rules in force in the field of asylum. The current principal of “first safe country” could be replaced by a system of quotas, whereby the countries would accept a certain number of asylum seekers, in proportion to the size of their populations, the available infrastructure and budgetary restraints. Countries not filling their asylum quotas would have to agree to take certain refugees in good faith from member states not able to forward the asylum request. In order to develop strategic partnerships with the main emerging powers, the European leaders should, for each partnership, create a clear hierarchy of the interests of the EU and go beyond the bilateral reflexes of the member states, which put their national short-term benefits first, at the expense of long-term European advantages. (H.B./transl.fl)
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(*) The sixteen think tanks in question are: Notre Europe, Demos Europa (Poland), Cyprus Center for European and International Affairs (CCEIA), Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Bruegel, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Centre for European Reform (CER), Egmont, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (Eliamep), European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), European Policy Centre, European Institute for European Policy (Europeum), GKI (Hungary), Real Instituto Elcano (Spain), Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS), Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP).