Brussels, 29/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - The "Mouvement des Entreprises de France" (Medef) has conducted a survey on the perspectives of the White Paper on new European governance published by the European Commission in July. In its publication entitled "In favour of a code of conduct for players in Europe", Medef proposes ten rules for better European governance, the aim being to contribute to the creation of better synergy between European institutions, Member States, their administrations, and economic and association circles of civil society.
Here are the ten rules and good practice proposed by Medef.
1. Rigorous analysis so that the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality enshrined in the Treaty are rigorously implemented; - hand the impact analysis to an independent audit of the Commission; - look at alternatives to legislation and ways of simplification; - render all impact studies public, appending them to draft legislation;
2. Effectively consult the circles concerned: - classify the different consultative procedures, setting out their respective goals and statutes; - hand the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions greater exploratory powers and provide their respective rapporteurs with the possibility of being heard by co-decision-makers;
3. Involve civil society: - refocus legislation, providing European civil society with margins for co-regulation; - other than the social field and technical standardisation, encourage this approach for the environment, consumers, e-commerce, the European financial area; - ensure control by the legislator and the European Commission over the use of these freedoms (effect on competition, ethical aspects, implementing disciplines, etc.);
4. Simplify legislation: - engage in a 2001-2004 simplification plan with codes of conduct for EU institutions and involving Member States; - create a central simplification unit within the Commission's General Secretariat; - make a yearly assessment of progress in simplification with socio-professional circles;
5. Deciding without delay: - refocus the work of the legislator on the essential aspects and further delegate practical applications to regulating committees, ensuring representation by socio-professional circles on the said committees;
6. Transposing legislation without flaws: - highlight States not complying on comparative scoreboards; - dissuade States from complicating the contents of directives when being transposed; - slap fines on Member States for any delay in transposition;
7. Make Community aid conditional: - ensure that the aid is compatible with rules of competition; - better balance Community aid between subsidies and loans;
8. Encourage dialogue with the private sector and, through this dialogue, seek a multiplying effect of private investment; - call on beneficiary States to justify the existence of public-private partnerships;
9. Cooperation between Member States; - develop networks of administrative cooperation to ensure the security of the Single Market and submit them to Community approval in relation to common criteria;
10. Mutual assessment: - better organise the annual cycle of mutual assessment of economic and social policies, with consultations with the social partners before the autumn and spring summits; - publish clear comparative reports on national situations, directly involving economic circles and the social partners; - highlight the contribution of civil society in European and national reforms.
Info: Bruno Vever, Medef delegation to the EU, Brussels: Tel.: 02 231 07 30. Fax: 02 231 08 38. E-mail: medef.brux@skynet.be Internet: http: //http://www.medef.fr