Brussels, 19/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - A "Manifeste des progressistes pour une Europe solidaire" proposed by the Belgian Socialists and Greens, with the main Belgian trade unions and associations like Oxfam, the Movement ouvrier chretien (MOC) and Attac, was presented to the press on Thursday by the members of the Convention Anne van Lancker (Socialist representative of the EP) and Marie Nagy (Ecolo representative of the Belgian Parliament), accompanied by other signatories. The member of the Convention, Elio di Rupo (leader of the PS and also representative of the Belgian Parliament), one of the project's main instigators, was unable to attend.
Speaking to the press, Anne van Lancker (who had presented the Convention with a contribution on "enhancing socio-economic integration" widely taken on board in the Manifesto) announced that she had just asked Convention President Giscard d'Estaing for the creation of a working group on the Union's social priorities. Some questions may be discussed in the working group on co-ordinating economic policies (chaired by Klaus Haensch), but not all, she considered. She made a point of stipulating that: "it is not a question of discussing in the Convention the content of social policies", but of "re-balancing the social and economic objectives" enshrined in the Treaty (read articles 2, 3, 4, 6, and those on competition and you will see that they are not "on the same level", he remarked). As for Ms. Nagy, she placed emphasis on the development of a "strong social dimension" in the work of the Convention, and hoped that many people would sign up to the manifesto and that it would have an impact on other Member states, in other words, that "it will bear seedlings". Questioned about the request to integrate the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaties, Charter that the trade unions had rejected at the time, considering it inadequate, Ms. Nagy noted that it was difficult for the current Convention "already to place back into question the acquis of the Convention" that adopted the Charter, and she spoke of pressures on members of the Convention stemming notably from European employers not to opt for the Charter's inclusion in the future Treaty.
The "progressive" manifesto calls for: - the strengthening of social and environmental objectives in the Treaty, which, in particular, means that a framework-directive needs adopting on services of a general interest "ensuring the primacy of missions of a general interest over competition" and enshrine full employment as the "EU's cardinal goal"; - integration of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaty, but broadening it (notably to trade union rights, the right to housing, a minimum level of income, health, etc.); - establishment of a "European economic and social government", that would consult the European Parliament and national parliaments and with which the European Central Bank would be in "permanent" dialogue; - reinforcement of economic policy co-ordination, which, in particular, would presuppose a review of the Stability Pact (distinction between "structural and economic" deficit, exclusion from the calculation of the deficit of public investments and cancellation programmes for the debts of developing countries, and account taken of the deficit not over one year but over a longer period) and move to qualified majority voting for tax (as well as a minimum level of company tax, a European tax on savings, and a tax on energy and on the movement of capital).