Brussels, 21/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Heads of State and Government of the EU, who met in Brussels on Friday, drew up a catalogue of structural reforms the EU should urgently launch to meet the objectives laid down in Lisbon in 2001, especially given the current context "of economic uncertainty and world-wide political risks". In order to "accelerate the reforms and bolster economic growth", the European Council is including in its conclusions a list of decisions and actions for the coming twelve months, particularly in the following areas:
Social: Setting up a new "European Task Force on Employment";
Energy: Final adoption and effective implementation of directives and the regulation on the internal electricity and gas markets; conclusion by the end of 2003 of an agreement on proposals to strengthen co-operation in managing gas and oil stocks within the EU;
Transport: Adoption of a final agreement on the second railway package; proposals on the Single European Sky and port services; speeding up work to accord the Commission a mandate to negotiate an "Open Sky" agreement with the United States; complete and immediate implementation of the Barcelona conclusions on Galileo (and finding a solution to the parcelling of budgetary contributions within the European Space Agency);
Financial Services: Swift implementation of an action plan for financial services (including the adoption, by the end of 2003, of directives on pensions and prospectuses and, by April 2004, of directives on investment services and transparency); removing obstacles to the creation of a proper European venture capital market, and looking at obstacles to investment by institutional investors (pension funds) on the venture capital markets;
Research and Innovation: Reinforcement of the European Research Area and creating a new regulatory framework for electronic communications by July 2003.
It is time for the EU and Member States to "fulfil their commitments regarding economic reforms by translating words into action", as is stated in the European Council conclusions. Although "important progress has been accomplished" in the three years since Lisbon (opening of energy markets, creation of the Single European Sky, modernisation of competition policy, setting up of an integrated financial market on a European scale, establishment of the Community Patent, creation of 5 million jobs, 500,000 of which in 2002, reduction by 2 million of the number of those unemployed), the European Council admits that there "is still a lot to be done". The Heads of State and Government state that the EU " is currently facing, as are other parts of the world, a slowdown in growth and job creation. Economic uncertainties and global political risks weigh heavily on the short-term outlook and have delayed a recovery. This makes it all the more essential to increase the capacity of our economies to grow, through sound macroeconomic policies and purposeful structural reforms".
Employment: Summit approves creation of a Task Force for employment, chaired
by Wim Kok - proposals to re-launch Lisbon strategy
In order to breathe new life into the Lisbon strategy on social and employment matters, the Heads of State and Government are emphasising the need to update the European Social Model by creating more and better jobs for all, and by promoting a high level of social cohesion on the basis of principles of solidarity and social inclusion.
(A). As regards improving employment (which lies at the heart of the Lisbon strategy), the European Spring Council especially hopes "that the new three-year perspective of Employment Guidelines should provide a stable basis for a simplified and more effective Strategy, and that they and the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines should operate in a consistent way". It is also expressly demands that the Employment Guidelines should address active and preventive measures for the unemployed and inactive; making work pay; increasing labour supply, the development of human capital and life-long learning; gender equality; integration and discrimination in the labour market; and the correction of regional employment disparities.
Furthermore, the European Council: 1) calls upon Member States to maintain the dynamic in reforming national labour markets, focussing on reform of tax regimes and systems of service provision so that they favour participation in the labour force, improving wage formation systems, reinforcing the efficiency of active labour market programmes, and increasing labour supply, particularly among older workers; 2) invites the Commission to establish a European Employment Task Force to carry out an "independent in-depth examination of key employment-related policy challenges", the main objective being to combat low levels of employment in the EU, and to raise productivity. The initiative for setting up this Task Force came from the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who told the Press of his satisfaction in it, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, José Manuel Durao Barroso (see EUROPE of 27 February, p.9). Spanish Minister Rodrigo Rato confirmed to the Press that the former Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Kok, would be its chairman; 3) insists that the momentum be maintained underpinning the action plan for competencies and mobility, notably by reaching political agreement by the end of 2003 on the directive on mutual recognition of vocational qualifications, and by taking the necessary decisions to be able to start using the European charter of health insurance as of summer 2004; 4) requests immediate examination of efforts currently agreed upon to improve the quality of employment, and is pleased that the Commission intends to produce a report on the quality of employment by the end of 2003.
(B). In order to promote solidarity and social cohesion, the European Council: 1) asks for the open method of co-ordination to continue to apply in the field of pensions, and for progress made to be reviewed in 2006, including for the new Member States; 2) invites the Council and the Commission to maintain co-operation by carrying out special studies focussed on the common challenges faced by pension schemes, and to make the effort to improve and simplify EC provisions for social security; 3) invites the Commission to produce a report in time for the Spring Summit of 2004, on the improvement of the general framework of social protection policy, and to report on the advisability of simplifying and streamlining the various strands of work on social protection into a coherent framework within the open method of co-ordination. This should clarify how these objectives can be achieved by 2006, while fully respecting subsidiarity and national competencies in relation to the organisation and financing of social protection; 4) invites the Member States to set appropriate national targets for significantly reducing the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2010.
Sustainable development: speeding up the movement to achieve internal and external
strategy goals- Overall indicative objective for renewable energy
Despite a certain amount of progress since the launch in 2001 of the Community strategy on sustainable development, worrying trends of increased pressure on the environment and natural resources have not been reversed, as was the Union's objective, to guarantee economic and social development viable in the long term. With this in mind, the Heads of State and Government are hoping to breathe new life into the environmental strand of this strategy via new measures aimed at decoupling environmental degradation and resource use from economic growth within the Union, and via the promotion of sustainable development on a global scale, through an effective follow-up of commitments made at the World Summit in Johannesburg.
To this end, the European Council is urging for progress to be speeded up in achievement of the Kyoto Protocol objectives on climate change, by increasing the share of renewable energy in relation to a global indicative objective for the EU (12% of primary energy needs, and 22% of electricity needs by 2010), to be supplemented by national objectives (of 1% per annum in the long term). It is also urging the Council of Ministers to adopt the "Intelligent Energy" programme for Europe prior to the Thessaloniki European Council in June, to promote reform of grants with a negative environmental impact and which are incompatible with sustainable development, to speed up its work on measures to reverse the downwards trend in biological diversity by 2010, and to ensure sustainable use of fish stocks by 2015. The European Council is calling for the creation and the urgent implementation of new legislation on chemical substances.
As regards the action plan on environmental technologies, which the Commission was hoping to finalise before the end of 2003, the European Council wants to see the focus on the development of new fuels and vehicle technologies- essential for a viable system of transport- in conjunction with industry, and it also wants the Union to consider environmental innovations, such as fuel cells, as a matter of priority.
In order to assist improvement of maritime safety, the European Council has requested the rapid implementation of measures adopted after the shipwrecks of the Erika and the Prestige, and it has also asked the Transport Council of 27 March to come to an agreement on the proposal restricting the carriage of heavy fuel-oil in single-hulled tankers, and accelerating the timetable for the withdrawal of such tankers. It recommends that the Commission and Member States co-ordinate their efforts to obtain a similar system at global level, and that: 1) the EU supports work underway within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to develop a flag state code and a compulsory model audit scheme ensuring its effective implementation; 2) a system of sanctions (including criminal sanctions) be adopted by the end of 2003, for infringements resulting in pollution; 3) liability of maritime operators be extended; 4) the Member States pursue, within the forthcoming diplomatic conference at the IMO in May, an increase in the current ceiling on compensation to 1 billion Euros; 5) possibilities be explored, within the context of the UN Convention on the law of the sea, to afford better protection for coastal states.