Brussels, 28/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - When presenting the European Parliament with the priorities of the Barcelona Summit on 15 and 16 March, both the President of the EcoFin Council, Rodrigo Rato and European Commission President Romano Prodi stressed that this European Council, the first since the arrival of the euro, would be held in a different atmosphere than other Spring Summits, due to the economic slowdown. They then both placed emphasis on the need for greater co-ordination of economic policies in future, especially in the euro zone. Several Member States have asked for the harmonisation of statistics between Member states and for the adoption of indicators on structural reforms, and "this is a good request", remarked Rato, stating, moreover, that the Spanish Presidency was in the process of preparing a paper for the Summit which places special emphasis on budgetary balance in Member states, the sustainability of public finances, as well as the possibilities for economic growth. Mr. Rato also insisted on the liberalisation of the energy and transport markets, stressing in particular that they would have to see whether the conditions were met for genuine competition on these markets. In Barcelona, our priorities for transport will be the "Single Sky" package and "rail transport", he stipulated. And we shall also have to prepare the Johannesburg Summit on sustainable development, he said. On this, President Prodi stressed that sustainable development "must have a prime position in our decisions", especially concerning the opening up of the energy market and the "overhaul" of the transport sector. Once more, Prodi sent out a warning over delays in the Lisbon Process, notably concerning the Community patent, Galileo and public procurement: in certain key-sectors, "we are only at the beginning", he admitted, considering that, in a year, the situation will be "different". Mr. Prodi also stressed the importance of candidate countries participating in a working session of the Barcelona Summit (including Economy and Finance Ministers, Rato pointed out): they will be able to say what they expect from the Lisbon Strategy, he added, recalling that, from 2003, they would be included in the structural indicators that the Commission uses to assess the state of progress of the strategy.
In his address, the President of the EPP-ED Group, Hans-Gert Poettering pleaded in favour of greater attention to SMEs, and told the Spanish Presidency that it would also be judged in relation to progress in the reform of the Council itself (you may recall that a report by Javier Solana on the subject is expected in Barcelona), whereas, wondering what they wanted to put in the "cocktail" of a successful "policy mix" for the Union's economy, the President of the Socialist Group, Enrique Baron exclaimed: "Liberalisation, yes, but it cannot produce miracles!". He then expressed astonishment at the words of Jose Maria Aznar (which have not been denied, he pointed out) on the need for confrontation between countries governed by Socialists - citing by name Germany, France and Portugal. Lisbon had set ambitious objectives, now the word seems to be "humility", but "humility does not mean giving up", observed German Social-Democrat Hans Udo Bullmann when presenting his report on the Lisbon Process (see summary in EUROPE of 1 February, p.18). After the euphoria of Lisbon, "must we bake buns?", Mr. Bullmann asked, demanding closer co-ordination of economic and employment policies to give growth a chance, and provide more flexible but more secure markets. We must avoid any confusion between the economic crisis that European countries were already experiencing before 11 September and the consequences of the attacks on the United States, said Othmar Karas (Austria, OVP), rapporteur on the subject, asking for solutions to be sought for those sectors most directly affected (insurance and tourism, for example) and for obstacles to growth to be identified to give back momentum to an "eco-social" economy that only needs reviving. The British Conservative, Caroline Jakson, chair of the Committee on the Environment, demanded a concrete evaluation of progress made in sustainable development and deplored the deadlock in the Community fisheries policy, which, she said, has been unable to respond to the "desperate" needs of the respect of the environment.
To rekindle growth, there need to be "intelligent and differentiated" measures (by regions and sectors), said the CDU member Thomas Mann, also placing emphasis on the social dimension. Spain is the country that has best succeeded in reducing unemployment, noted Dutch Christian-Democrat Bartho Pronk, before attacking the "perfidious Albion" which claims to have its say while remaining outside the euro zone (soon Bush and Putin will have a right to look in on our interest rates, he waxed ironical).
Liberalisation does not mean deregulation, said Luxembourg Socialist Robert Goebbels, for whom the Enron affair shows how important it is to have clear rules. "At a time when the United States is discovering the virtues of public service, Europe has not to sabotage its own", he exclaimed. Bruno Trentin (Italian, Democratici di sinistra), for his part, pleaded in favour of an economic and social policy drawn up and decided in a single place. Should the Council to be judged as schoolchild before the Barcelona examination, its report would read "must try harder", observes the President of the Liberal Group, Graham Watson, and even its marks for "conduct" would not be very high. He then cites, in particular: patents, inability to reform the gas and electricity markets, whereas great effort is being demanded of candidate countries. What we refrain from doing is at times as important was what we try to do, and some summits "groan under the weight of a whole series of targets", exclaimed British Liberal Nicholas Clegg, urging them to set more realistic objectives. It is the Spanish Presidency's insistence on liberalisation, deregulation, globalisation that upsets Monica Frassoni, co-President of the Greens, who sees in this determination a bad omen for Barcelona, where the environment will be broached "in an almost clandestine manner", ten years after Rio. Why, asks Herman Schmid, Swedish member of the United Left, will not the problems of the candidate countries be taken into consideration in the debate on the Lisbon Process? (but the candidate countries will be in Barcelona: see above). Must we seek at all costs a new idea for each summit, whereas so much remains to be done? Asked, in turn, Brian Crowley (Fianna Fail, Ireland, of the Group of a European of Nations). According to Georges Berthu (Movement for France), the Commission places the problem of growth "in a strange perspective": recalling that mobility in the United States was five times that of Europe's, he wondered "does it want to render Europe comparable to the United States? "Let's not surreptitously inverse the priorities", Mr. Berthu protested, it would be "a totalitarian approach". The Spanish hydrology plan led to criticisms by some, notably Alexander de Roo, Dutch Green: it is a "stupid" plan, he said, leading to an exasperated reply from Cristina Garcia-Orcoyen Tormo (Partido Popular), who said that the plan was supported by a large majority and would improve the quality of life for 15 million people.
In his reply, Mr. Rato confirmed his conviction that liberalisation, deregulation and competitiveness were the way forward, while stating that the informal EcoFin Council of Oviedo would also discuss social policy, training and positive discrimination, even though the "best social policy is that of creating quality jobs", and it was preferable to encourage people to work rather than subsidising them. In an attempt to reassure parliamentarians, Rato said that, in Barcelona, they would try to set measurable goals, and discuss structural reforms with candidate countries too.
EUROPE will return to the text adopted at the close of the debate: Bullmann and Karas reports and Jackson Resolution (greatly amended: see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12).