Strasbourg, 04/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, who presented the results of the European Council of Stockholm of 23/24 March to the European Parliament on Wednesday, stressed the concrete nature of the summit's deliberations. He said that Stockholm had dealt with the day-to-day concerns of European citizens. He recalled that the European Council he had presided mainly added the problem of the ageing population in Europe to the Lisbon strategy. This challenge will require "an enormous amount of work", he said. Account should not only be taken of the consequences on budgets, but the issue should also be included in the Social Agenda decided under French Presidency. The retirement age must be put up, the president of the European Council said in this context; He insisted that a balance should be struck between the economic and social chapters of the Lisbon strategy. It is not just a matter of "market deregulation", he exclaimed, while noting the progress made in Stockholm regarding liberalisation (although, for gas and electricity, "we do not have the timetable that we would have liked"). Concerning climate change, Mr Persson also recalled that, with Mr Prodi, he had written to President Bush (before the latter announced his intention not to take account of the Kyoto Protocol). The Kyoto Protocol is a basic text that we should comply with, he insisted, considering the signal sent by Washington as "unacceptable".
From the next spring summit on (Ed.: in March 2002 in Barcelona), the Commission will present a "single report" including sustainable development, announced European Commission President Romano Prodi. Work will thus be clearer and more transparent and, he said, it will be possible to focus more on political aspects than on technical details. Mr Prodi thanked Mr Persson for the "firm, calm and solid chairmanship" of the work in Stockholm, and also took stock of the "six key areas" where, according to the Commission, "fresh impetus" is needed: (1) information technology: Mr Prodi recalled that the Commission adopted the e-learning action plan on Wednesday; (2) Galileo: private sector commitment to provide immediate funding of EUR 200 million means that there is no longer any reason why Member States should hesitate. "This is no time for tinkering" and a project of such strategic importance for the next twenty years should not be held up by discussions on insignificant details, added Mr Prodi; (3) financial markets: concerning the Lamfalussy Report, Mr Prodi announced that the Commission will be "tabling its first major proposals in this field very soon - before the summer". He stressed that the debate in this field must be continued in the context of co-decision, and with qualified majority voting; (4) Community patent: progress in this field has been hampered by concerns on the part of certain Member States, ranging from "language issues to loss of revenue for the Member States national offices", noted Mr Prodi. He felt "these positions taken by the Member Sates seem to run counter to the interests of their own business community, which is clamouring for a simple, clear and inexpensive Community patent"; (5) Single European sky: Mr Prodi noted that Spain and the United Kingdom have agreed to resume discussions on Gibraltar, and pointed out that the Commission "will do all it can to help resolve this problem as rapidly as possible"; (6) liberalisation of markets: the liberalisation of postal services must take place by the end of this year, and that of energy markets will "continue, on the basis of the extremely clear and precise proposals we have already tabled". More generally, Mr Prodi noted that there was a mood of "rational optimism" in Stockholm, while, in Lisbon, "faced with the strength of the American economy, I think we still had something of an inferiority complex".
Like Mr Persson, Mr Prodi briefly spoke of the main external relations issues tackled in Stockholm, saying: - Russia: President Putin "assured us that Russia and the European Union share common values" but, in addition to the concern over Chechnya, he said they could not conceal their concern for the trend towards control of the television on the part of the government, said Mr Prodi; - Macedonia: According to Mr Prodi, it would be a mistake to allow the current crisis to "deflect us from our objective of helping that country integrate more closely with the European Union". The EU's credibility depends not only on its ability to "set political and strategic objectives but also to take swift and effective action on the ground", he added.