On 23 October in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted a resolution by the EPP-ED, PES and ELDR groups on the results of the European Council of 16-17 October in Brussels (on the subject of the plenary debate, see EUROPE 23 October pp 3-6). We will publish the resolution in full in our EUROPE/Documents series.
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ON THE OUTCOME OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL MEETING HELD IN BRUSSELS ON 16-17 OCTOBER 2003
The European Parliament,
having regard to the Presidency conclusions of the European Council meeting held in Brussels on 16 and 17 October 2003,
I. Intergovernmental Conference (IGC)
Reaffirms that the IGC will fail if it unravels the consensus achieved by the Convention; recalls that all the national parliaments and governments and the European Parliament and Commission were represented in the Convention;
Affirms its opposition to abolishing the Legislative Council; insists on respect for the principle of the separation of powers and openness of the legislative procedure;
Recalls that the agreement in the Convention concerning the Foreign Minister was deliberately intended to bring together a number of functions concerning external relations, namely those of High Representative, of Commissioner coordinating external policies, and of Chair of the Foreign Affairs Council; considers that any attempt to remove, limit or weaken any one of these elements would destroy the compromise;
Urges the IGC to focus on ensuring the coherence of Part III with Parts I and II of the Constitution; urges again that the IGC finish in December 2003;
Urges the IGC to adopt improved provisions on Part IV of the Constitution;
Commits itself to playing a full and constructive part in bringing about a successful conclusion to the IGC;
II. Relaunching The European Economy
Shares the view that economic policies should continue to be aimed at producing job-creating and sustainable growth; to achieve this, the key priorities should be maintaining sound macroeconomic policies, within the framework provided by the Stability and Growth Pact and the current Financial Perspective ceilings, accelerating structural reforms - particularly efforts to increase the flexibility of product, capital and labour markets - and the promotion of investment in infrastructure and human capital;
Regrets that, ten years after Delors' white paper and three years after the launch of the Lisbon strategy, the decisions needed to reverse economic decline have once again been delayed; requests that, following the December European Council, the long-awaited and often-cited decisions be finally taken;
Welcomes the apparent political will to speed up the implementation of Europe- wide investment activities in key areas such as transport, energy, telecoms, IT and R&D and underlines the urgent need for the adoption of the Europe-wide 'quick-start programme' as well as adequate national growth programmes; underlines that boosting investments in key projects cannot alone solve either the immediate, nor the long-term problems for the European economy; considers that the European Council in December should focus on achieving the existing objectives in the Lisbon agenda in order to make the Union the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010;
Regrets that the environmental and sustainability aspects have not been properly taken into account and insists again that the impact of European policies and legislation on these aspects should be carefully assessed; calls on the Member States to promote an ambitious EU plan for development of clean technologies; insists on the potential of such an initiative for the environment, growth and employment, and social welfare; looks forward to the Commission's action plan on environmental technologies;
Furthermore considers it to be essential to the success of this initiative that it should focus on projects that are sustainable and economically and financially viable and have a clear European value; when establishing projects eligible for the 'quick-start programme' and in order to attain a high level of co-financing for these projects, cost/benefit analyses should be used; this initiative must complement the aims and resources of the internal market;
Considers that the Lisbon structural reform agenda, notably labour market reforms, must result in better jobs in order to create a knowledge-based economy, and that substantial investments in people are therefore essential; insists that, as economic and social reforms have to be mutually supportive, these reforms must be achieved in close cooperation with the social partners;
Insists that Member States should commit themselves to boost research and investment in human capital across the European economy and re-orientate public spending towards increasing environmentally friendly production and the improvement of skills and life-long learning; urges that life-long learning and clean technology projects should therefore be included in the forthcoming 'quick-start programme';
Notes the initiative to develop the social dimension, and welcomes the wish to ensure the sustainability of pension systems; strongly emphasises that, along with the necessary pension reforms, Member States must increase the labour market participation of underemployed sections of the population, such as women, immigrants, older workers and disabled people, e.g. through targeted integration measures, measures to reconcile work and family life and incentives to promote a longer working life; stresses, furthermore, that all Member States must promote incentives for work, e.g. by taking action to adapt tax and benefit systems to make work and education pay; reiterates that full employment is the best way to ensure the sustainability of pensions;
Underlines again that the cornerstone of the Lisbon and Göteborg strategy is the balanced policy mix of mutually supportive economic reform, full employment, social cohesion and sound management of the environment; is therefore of the opinion that all the Council formations concerned should be equally involved;
III. Strengthening Freedom, Security and Justice
Managing the Union's Common Borders
Welcomes the Council's willingness to strengthen the management of external borders in the interests of an area of freedom, security and justice, and is in favour of allocating the necessary funds in order to cover the most pressing needs in this domain, noting the particular need for support to be provided as a result of the new external borders;
Stresses that the effective management of the external borders of the Member States should be developed through coherent Community action, with the full involvement of Parliament;
Notes the European Council's call for the setting-up of a Border Management Agency, but would prefer to see an operational structure, coordinated by the Commission, established as a precursor to an EU Corps of Border Guards made up of special national forces, financed by the EU;
Welcomes the importance given to full implementation of the plan for the management of external borders and the setting-up of air and maritime border centres, as concrete steps towards cooperation to avoid tragic human consequences, such as those recently seen on the Mediterranean coasts of Spain and Italy;
Controlling migratory flows
Welcomes the European Council's commitment to the Thessaloniki priorities and insists on the need for a global and balanced approach to immigration issues, which includes policies for reception and integration of legal immigrants; stresses the need to relate immigration to social, employment and economic policies;
Agrees with the global approach of strengthening partnership with countries of origin, as proposed in Thessaloniki, and welcomes the Commission's beginning a study on the relationship between legal and illegal immigration, but reiterates the view of the European Council that each Member State must retain ultimate responsibility for the number of people admitted to its territory and that any use of quotas by the Union must be restricted to negotiations with third countries;
Is favourably disposed towards a return policy which respects humanitarian principles, but is of the view that this should be financed by a specific instrument supported by a new legal base;
Agrees that there is an urgent need to call on the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council to reach agreement rapidly and adopt the basic legislation proposed by the Commission on a common European asylum system based on high protection requirements; also asks for the adoption of the proposed legislative measures on immigration (such as the directives on admission of third-country nationals and on long-term resident status);
Looks forward to a political agreement in the JHA Council by the end of 2003 on the proposals for biometric identifiers in visas, residence permits and passports, on which Parliament is consulted, and stresses that it will seek to evaluate the compatibility of these proposals as well as the development of VIS and SIS II with EU data protection legislation;
Reaffirms that all the measures concerning external border control, stopping of illegal immigration, Visa Information System (VIS) etc. must not undermine asylum seekers' possibility of access to asylum procedures;
Judicial and Police Cooperation
Welcomes the Council's wish to strengthen police and judicial cooperation, and calls once again for Europol's powers to be strengthened and for it to be communitised; calls also for the effective introduction of information systems for Schengen (SIS II, VIS) and for Europol with due respect for EU data protection legislation;
Is seriously worried that many Member States have not yet adopted the necessary legal measures for implementation by 1 January 2004 of the European arrest warrant; insists that the Council should immediately take an initiative with a view to guaranteeing implementation in all Member States in due time;
Calls on the Commission, following the Green Paper, to propose appropriate legal measures to guarantee common minimum safeguards in criminal proceedings throughout the EU as a necessary step towards guaranteeing a balance between law enforcement and the protection of fundamental rights;
Endorses the importance attached by the European Council to the adoption of the framework decision on the fight against drug trafficking and the deadline set, and warmly welcomes the agreement on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility, and trusts that the regulation will be adopted at the same time as the decision relating to the ratification of the 1996 Hague Convention;
Guantanamo Bay detainees
Is appalled by the continued detention of approximately 26 European nationals and residents at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and indeed of all 600 detainees, which is unacceptable; and believes the failure of EU leaders and the Council Presidency to even discuss the matter to be a scandal;
Urges the Italian Presidency to raise this matter and the detainees' right to a fair trial at every opportunity with the US administration and to place it on the agenda for the next EU-US Summit;
IV. External Relations
WTO
Welcomes and shares the European Council's restated commitment to multilateralism in trade policy; emphasises the risks to the world economy and to the multilateral trade system which could result from a prolonged standstill of negotiations; calls therefore on the Commission to restate its commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and to play an active role in seeking an early resumption of negotiations;
Northern Dimension
Reiterates the importance it attaches to the Second Northern Dimension Action Plan and is seriously concerned about the ever-diminishing budgetary resources available for the traditional policies of the Union; proposes that a larger proportion of the Northern Dimension Activities should be financed under internal policies (regional and structural budgetary resources) as the Northern Dimension largely contributes to improving the situation in the northern border regions of the EU, contributing to a safer environment for all EU inhabitants and to enhanced security in the nearest EU neighbourhood; believes that, in implementing the Action Plan, the importance of making it as wide-ranging and concrete as possible must be highlighted, in order to promote both political and economic cooperation, including in the field of energy; considers that cases of good practice should serve as an example for the Wider Europe Initiative;
Mediterranean
Notes the conclusions of the EMAP working party meeting of 16 and 17 October 2003 in Brussels, concerning the establishment and operation of this Parliamentary Assembly; calls for the strengthening of parliamentary cooperation and appeals to all Member States to contribute to developing Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary dialogue in this framework; calls for the Naples Ministerial Conference to approve the conversion of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Forum into a Parliamentary Assembly;
Calls for the study on the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean Bank, as a subsidiary of the EIB, to be actively pursued and to form the subject of an operational decision at the Naples Ministerial Conference on the basis of the Commission Communication of 15 October 2003;
Calls for the decisions taken at the Valencia Ministerial Conference on the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for a dialogue of cultures and civilisations to be implemented and to form the subject of an operational decision at the Naples Ministerial Conference on the basis of the Commission Communication of 15 October 2003;
Expects a more effective and coherent action in the field of human rights and democracy in the framework of the 'New Neighbourhood Initiative';
Moldova
Welcomes the Council's support for the OSCE's efforts to bring about a comprehensive political settlement of the Transdniestrian issue in the Republic of Moldova;
Stresses the need for a constructive approach in order to bring the process to a conclusion and, in this context, urges the Russian Federation and the Ukraine to discharge, together with the OSCE, their role as mediators; with regard to the completion of the withdrawal of the Russian forces, joins the Council in calling on the Russian Federation to take all the necessary steps to comply with the Istanbul/Porto commitment by the end of 2003;
Middle East
Expresses its concern at developments and endorses the European Council's appeal to the parties concerned to honour their undertakings and to restore a climate of mutual trust, and in this regard calls on:
- the Palestinian National Autority to ensure that its government is capable of making every endeavour in the field of security and of acting against those responsible for terrorist attacks, and to complete the reform programme already undertaken;
- the Israeli government, while recognising its legitimate right to protect its citizens, to renounce the disproportionate use of force, to end extrajudicial executions, to halt the building of the so-called 'security' wall that aggravates the living conditions of the Palestinian population in the Territories and prejudges a positive solution of the question of the borders, and to dismantle colonies in accordance with the programme established in the road map;
Strongly condemns the intensification of all the instances of violence which have occurred in recent days, including the criminal act that led to the deaths of three US citizens in the Gaza Strip on 15 October 2003, and calls for those responsible to be brought to justice;
Considers more binding initiatives to be essential on the part of the Quartet, as well as the formulation of concrete and urgent proposals to set up a monitoring mechanism through an international force;
Welcomes the initiatives taken by Israeli and Palestinian political representatives and civil society, especially the signing of the so-called 'Geneva Accord' between a group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians and intellectuals;
Iraq
Regards UNSC Resolution 1511 as only a first step towards the restoration of international legitimacy in the management of post-war Iraq;
Reiterates the positions expressed in its recommendation of 24 September to the Council on the situation in Iraq, as regards:
- the central role to be played by the United Nations,
- the need to transfer power to the Iraqi people's representatives as soon as possible,
- the necessary guarantees in respect of reconstruction aid, through a multilateral and transparent fund;
Calls on the President-in-Office of the Council immediately to reach an EU common position in order to adopt a genuine strategy towards Iraq, in accordance with the request made to the High Representative for CFSP;
Points out that the amount represented by the pledge at the Madrid donor conference for Iraq must be agreed between the two arms of the budgetary authority, namely the Council and the European Parliament; reiterates that a pledge for Iraq must not be to the detriment of other regions in the world and that this amount must, in addition, take account of the absorption capacity on the ground;
Expresses the wishes that the new situation resulting from the adoption of Resolution 1511 could extend its effects to the whole Middle East region and notably to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
Arab World
Strongly supports the initiative launched at the last European Council to promote closer dialogue with Arab countries using the instruments currently available and calls on the Council, the High Representative and the Commission to report to it on the progress made in that field;
Iran
Welcomes the readiness of Iran to sign the IAEA additional protocol, following the agreement with the three EU Foreign Ministers who visited the country;
Reiterates its willingness to develop wider cooperation with Iran, but insists on the necessity to increase international confidence with regard to the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme and improvements in the areas of human rights, the fight against terrorism and Iran's position on the Middle East Peace Process; in this context, also congratulates Mrs Shirin Ebadi on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her commitment to democracy and the defence of human rights in Iran;
Kosovo
Welcomes the beginning of the talks between the representatives of Kosovo and the government of Serbia with a view to dealing first with technical matters;
Calls on the Council and all the parties involved in the dialogue to facilitate joint efforts towards achieving normalisation in Kosovo and bring it up to EU standards, and to focus on practical problems of daily life within the area of energy, transport, and communications, as well as on returnees and missing persons;
Calls on the Council to insist on playing a more active role in establishing a road map and a time-frame with the aim of reaching a conclusion on the final status of Kosovo as soon as possible;
Great Lakes Region
Calls on the European Union to provide extensive humanitarian, economic and political aid in order to help achieve lasting political stability in the Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in particular, and urges the African Union to help resolve the conflict by getting commitments from the Ugandan, Rwandan and DRC governments not to arm or fund any of the political armed groups in the DRC;
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Council and the Commission.
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