Brussels, 02/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President Romano Prodi addressed a letter on 1 December to the participants of the European Council to be held in Brussels on 12 and 13 December. In his letter, he recalls that the next European Council in March will provide an opportunity to examine the progress made in implementing the Lisbon strategy and that, on that occasion, it is of primary importance that they may be able to confirm their joint ambition and commitment for sustainable development, which will bring full employment and help to safeguard the environment. He said the challenges to be raised require renewal of this commitment. In the context of the new EU enlargement and an international economy which is showing encouraging signs of recovery, Mr Prodi considers the European Council must send a strong message of confidence and stress its determination to pursue reforms begun in the year 2000. He identifies three priorities which should be treated by the European Spring Council 2004. First of all, he says, strengthened investment in networks and knowledge through the European growth initiative, as well as in human capital, seems to him to be a determining factor if they wish to support recovery of strong and sustainable growth. In the same way, they must make a further and considerable effort to improve competitiveness, which is at the heart of the Lisbon strategy. Finally, the reforms begun for the labour market and pension systems - and which are beginning to bear fruit - must be continued with greater determination, he said. The spring report that the Commission is to adopt in January 2004 will focus on these priorities so that the spring summit may hold a useful political debate and deliver a powerful political message, Mr Prodi said, welcoming the fact that the Irish Presidency shares the same analysis of the situation in the letter that it had sent to them.
The Presidency continues: "Without waiting for the next European Spring Council, I wish to draw your attention to the two issues that require rapid treatment from Member Sates in so far as they have a direct impact on our competitiveness. 1. The rate of transposition of directives relating to the internal market and to the Lisbon strategy is particularly worrying. The overall transposition deficit for these directives has been clearly rising over past months after a drop during several years. What is even more worrying is that non-transposition affects many directives that are strategic for achieving the Lisbon goals. Thus, the telecommunications package that should have taken effect in July this year has so far only been transposed into the body of law of half of the Member Sates. In the same way, the directive on harmonising certain elements of copyright in the information society has not yet been transposed by nine Member States, nearly one year after the legal deadline. I therefore call on Member States to step up their efforts to comply with the Barcelona commitments, confirmed by interinstitutional agreement on "how to legislate better" concluded this year. 2. Council must speed up conclusion of several strategic dossiers. Several dossiers are pending while we wait for a political agreement or a common position on the Council table. These, I would note, include: - public takeover bids, for which we must maintain a high level of ambition on the degree of harmonisation; - the Community patent, which must be rapidly concluded after the political agreement reached in March this year; - recognition of professional qualifications, for which the European Spring Council has requested a conclusion before the end of the year; - and, finally, proposals on coordination on social security matters and the European health card which must also be adopted before the end of the legislature". "I would call on you therefore to focus your efforts to make these issues move forward as a priority", Mr Prodi concluded.