Brussels, 19/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU27 has repeated its commitment to growth and jobs, listing measures backed by the politicians to be implemented in the immediate future. In a conclusions document issued at the end of the autumn summit on 18 and 19 October, the politicians follow up on the Growth and Jobs Pact, as promised at the June summit. The promises follow on directly from indications made by the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, on Thursday, who said that the ball was now largely in the member states' court to speed up the adoption of EU measures to boost growth and to actually implement them on the ground. After the second day of the heads of state talks, Barroso said that there was growth on paper and it was now a matter of having it in practice on the ground. He said there is a growth and jobs pact for huge investment equivalent to €120 billion that has not yet been implemented. The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said the Commission and the Council were keeping up the pressure on the member states over the growth and jobs policy. It was the French president, Francois Hollande, who put the growth and jobs pact on the agenda. Hollande said he hoped for an assessment of the process by the Commission and the European Parliament and for all institutions to be involved. Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said there had been progress on financing the real economy.
Current investment. The summit agreed to work towards agreement on the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework this year and the EU27 point out that millions of euros in European funding from a variety of sources will be injected into the economy to stimulate growth: with the European Investment Bank's lending capacity increasing in 2013 to €60 billion, some €55 billion from the structural funds that can be used to boost jobs and growth and the project bond pilot phase, which should have a leverage effect of €4.5 billion. The summit unanimously agreed to support the European Interconnection Mechanisms to finance EU infrastructure, although several countries have expressed deep doubts in the past. Hollande said that France wants a bigger input for telecoms, transport and energy in this connection. The politicians say that the member states will see increased growth in the digital agenda, and a mid-term report on this illustrates areas where further effort is needed, such as cutting red tape for small business and industries that need to stay on top of technological competition. To this end, the recent Commission report on the EU's industrial policy is described is a good incentive.
EUROPE 2020. In order to improve application of the EUROPE 2020 Strategy, the European summit recommends improving the working of the European Semester in 2013 and asks the Cypriot Presidency to prepare a report on lessons to be drawn from 2012. The summit said it was important to properly implement the country-specific recommendations and reforms.
Jobs. On the social affairs front, the summit is determined to promote jobs for young people, planning to work further on the jobs package while awaiting a special programme on jobs for young people that will include guarantees for young people and high-quality training. The politicians want the focus also to fall on jobs for older people and making it easier for workers to be mobile.
Foreign trade. Pointing out that an ambitious trade agenda would lead to economic growth of 2% in the medium-term and the creation of two million new jobs, the summit said the EU was determined to promote free trade in a spirit of reciprocity and mutual benefit. In this connection, it called for negotiating mandates for a free trade deal with Japan, finalisation in the next few months of the free trade talks with Canada and Singapore and working towards the launch of free trade talks with the United States in 2013. (MB and EH ET LC/transl.fl)