Brussels, 09/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent out on Monday 8 October, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy asked member states to genuinely implement commitments supporting growth so that they would remain credible in the eyes of their citizens. He also called on member states to speed up the measures in the Single Market Act I presented by the Commission in April 2011 and respect the Growth and Employment Pact adopted last June by heads of state and government.
Van Rompuy also called on the EU 27 to draw up a growth and employment pact inventory at the next European summit.
The president of the European Council is concerned by the sluggishness of decision-making by member states. He believes that if they continued at this pace, barely half of the 12 priorities set out by the Commission in April 2011 would be validated by the end of this year. If breakthroughs prove possible on a certain number of texts, including the patent and if the pace is stepped up, certain key action priorities may still prove difficult, explained Van Rompuy in his letter, and it would appear unlikely that they could be concluded by December. The president of the European Council made a specific reference to the slow progress on the “professional qualifications” directive, “posted workers” and the Trans-European Telecoms and Energy Networks (TEN).
Van Rompuy explained that if there is enough political determination, all the different actions announced could perfectly be achieved by the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. Although the Commission has just presented its Second Act for the Single Market, Van Rompuy again highlighted the necessity of member states pursuing further efforts to help the Cypriot presidency ratify the provisions in the First Act for the Single Market as soon as possible.
The Council president said member states should stick to the Growth and Employment Pact and crank up the pace in the execution of payment for the €120 billion planned for economic recovery. (SP/trans.fl)