Brussels, 05/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Socialists finalised their proposals for sustainable development that will be handed to the European Council of Barcelona by the Socialist Prime Ministers and Party leaders of the Fifteen. Presenting the major outlines of the document to the press, Goran Persson, Swedish Prime Minister, accompanied by Dutch Minister Jan Pronk and the Commissioner for the Environment, Margot Wallstrom, declared: "We must strengthen the link between economic and social development in the Union and the environmental dimension of sustainable development. We expect of the Barcelona Summit that it provide further impetus to this process within the Union, as well as in the global context on the eve to two other meetings of 'capital importance'", the Conference on Monterrey and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Mr. Persson stressed the need for Member states to move closer to the objective of allocating 0.7% of GDP to public aid to development. "The most difficult thing will be to secure concrete results from all the programmes and elegant communiqués already present. We want the Union to play a leading role in securing a global action plan and the adoption of concrete measures", he added. His meeting on Wednesday with the Spanish President of the European Council Jose Maria Aznar, will have goal to discuss the follow-up of Stockholm and the "opportunity offered to stimulate growth and employment by the potentials of the new clean technologies".
Full of good sense, Margot Wallstrom considered that the document of the European Socialists was "another good point of departure to secure results in Johannesburg". She then added: "In Barcelona, we will have to ensure that the European leaders approve the Commission's communication on the external dimension of sustainable development and hand the Union precise tasks to progress and provide concrete ideas in Johannesburg". She also expressed the hope that the European Heads of State and Government would go to Johannesburg. Jan Pronk considered that, to be up to its ambitions, the Union had to strive "at achieving the goals of the Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000", as well as provide the example by its internal policies, "to fill the gap between what we say to the outside world and what we do at home".