Brussels, 23/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic and Social Committee is meeting in plenary session in Brussels on Wednesday 28 February and Thursday 1 March, under the Presidency of Göke Frerichs and with the participation of the Vice-President of the European Commission Loyola de Palacio.
During this session, the Committee is to adopt an own-initiative opinion on the "contribution to the mid-term examination of three processes that underscore the European employment strategy (rapporteur: Jan Olsson, Sweden; various interests group; co-rapporteur: the German trade unionist Ursula Engelen-Keefer). This opinion will be the Committee's contribution to the Stockholm Summit, and follows-up the conference organised by the Committee on 13 February on "Can the EU contribute to growth and solidarity?" and in which the Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson took part, as did the Director General for Employment in the European Commission, Odile Quintin, the Committee's President Göke Frerichs and the opinion's rapporteur Jan Olsson. In addition, the Committee should adopt a package of opinions presented by its "Economy" section, and for which the rapporteurs all come from the workers' group. It should thus adopted the following three own-initiative opinions: 1) Intensification of economic studies by countries by macroeconomic performance comparisons regarding the economy and employment (rapporteur: Ursula Konitzer, Germany); 2) Coordination of economic policies due to EMU (Lars Allan Nyberg, Sweden); 3) the major economic policy guidelines for 2000 (Heinz Putzhammer, Germany). Finally, it will adopt the opinion on the Commission's communication on structural indicators (Marjolaine Bulk, The Netherlands). In addition, the Committee should adopt an own-initiative opinion of the European dimension of education (rapporteur: Christoforos Koryfidis, Greece, workers' group; co-rapporteur: Bernd Rupp, Germany, various activities group), as well as the additional own-initiative opinion on "the Nordic dimension and relations with Russia" (rapporteur: Uno Westerlund, Sweden, workers' group).
The Committee will also vote on the following Commission legislative proposals or communications: 1) air pollution by emissions of motor vehicles (Edoardo Bagliano, Italy, employers' group); 2) instruments of measurement (Roy Donovan, Ireland, employers' group); 3) creation of a European legal network for civil and commercial matters (Daniel Retureau, France, workers' group); 4) cooperation between the jurisdictions of Member States regarding proof in civil and commercial matters (Bernardo Hernandez Bataller, Spain, various activities group); 5) universal service and users' rights in electronic communication (Bernardo Hernandez Bataller); 6) maritime safety/pollution prevention (Anna Bredima Savopoulou, Greece, employers' group; co-rapporteur: Daniel Retureau); 7) Community mechanisms for coordinating civilian protection in case of emergency (Soscha zu Eulenburg, Germany, various activities group); 8) general provisions on the Structural Funds (Dario Mengozzi, Italy, various activities group); 9) Community incentive measures in the field of employment (Gianni Vinay, Italy, workers' group); 10) public procurement in the water, energy and transport sectors (Bo Green, Denmark, employers group), and in the sectors of supply, services and work (Bo Green); 11) Community law in the Canary Islands (Margarita Lopez Almendariz, Spain, employers group).