Brussels, 27/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic and Social Committee will hold, on 28 and 29 November in Brussels, its plenary session, under the Presidency of Goke Frerichs. The President of the European Commission Romano Prodi will speak on Wednesday afternoon on the theme "European Governance and the future of Europe". For the Belgian Presidency, Annemie Neyts will speak on Thursday morning on "The state of preparation for the Laeken summit".
During this session, whose agenda is extremely heavy, the Committee should adopt:
Three own initiatives on: 1) the new context of the world economy: new economic policy challenges for the EU (Mrs Kontitzer, Workers Group, Germany); 2) economic growth, taxation and the sustainability of pension systems in the EU (Mr Byrns, Employers group, Ireland; Mr Van Dijk, Workers group, Netherlands); 3) Sweden: economic situation and implementation of structural reforms foreseen in the Cardiff process (Mr Walker, Employers group, UK);
Two additional own initiatives on: 1) the European small enterprises charter (Mr Giron, Diverse activities group, France); 2) sustainable Europe (Mr Ehnmark, Workers group, Sweden); Mr Ribbe, group of diverse activities, Germany);
Four additional opinions on: 1) a strategy for the internal market for services (Mr Vever, Employers group, France); 2) programme for the protection of childhood on the Internet (Mrs Davison, group of diverse activities, UK); 3) immunity from fines (Mr Sepi, Workers group, Italy); 4) simplification of regulations within the European market (Mr Walker, Employers group, UK).
Moreover, the Committee will rule on Communications and/or legislative initiatives from the European Commission covering: 1) financial guarantee contracts (Mr Barros vale, Employers Group, Portugal); 2) 30th report on competition policy 2000 (Mr Sepi, Workers group, Italy); 3) common vocabulary for public procurement (CPV) (Mr Hernandez Bataller, group of diverse activities, Spain); 4) information network security: proposal for a European political approach (Mr Retureau, Workers Group, France); 5) formation of a joint venture Galileo (Mr Bernabei, Employers group, Italy); 6) installation and use, within the Community, of speed restrictors on certain categories of motorised vehicles (Mr Colombo, Workers Group, Italy); 7) State aid to the coal industry (Mr Gafo Fernandez, Employers group, Spain); 8) environmental protection through penal law (Mrs Sanchez Miguel, Workers group, Spain); 9) common market organisation in the banana sector (Mr Espuny Moyano, Employers group, Spain); 10) structural funds for the 2000-2006 period - Objective 1 (Mr Christie, Workers Group, UK); 11) true taxation, within the Community, of savings revenues in the form of interest payments (Mr Ravoet, Employers group, Belgium); 12) minimum standards for the hosting of asylum seekers in the Member States (Mr Megozzi, group of diverse activities, Italy; Mr Pariza Castanos, Workers group, Spain); 13) organisation of investigation through an opinion poll into Community work forces (Mr Sklavounos, group of diverse activities, Greece); 14) medical provisions incorporating stable blood by-products or human plasma (Mr Ribeiro, group of diverse activities, Portugal); 15) creation of common rules in the field of civil aviation safety (Mr Green, Employer group, Denmark); 16) EU fiscal policy: priorities for the coming years (Mr Morgan, Employers group, UK); 17) foodstuffs and ingredients that may be submitted to processing through ionisation in the Community (Mr Jaschick, group of diverse activities, Germany); 18) support to national strategies in favour of safe and viable pensions (Mrs Cassina, Workers group, Italy); 19) labour cost index (Mrs Hornung-Draus, Employers group, Germany); 20) cooperation for EU information and communication policy activities (rapporteur general Mr Gafo Fernandez, Employers group, Spain); 21) access for port services markets (Mr Retureau, Workers group, France); 22) cross-border payments in Euro (Mr Burani, Employers group, Italy).
Let us note once more that a debate will take place on Wednesday into the report from the Bureau on the "Committee and organised civil society (Mr Westerlund, Workers Group, Sweden) and into a development strategy for the Committee (Mr Little, Employers group, UK).