Brussels, 17/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - The appeal by prime ministers José Maria Aznar (Spain), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Jan-Peter Balkenende (Netherlands), José-Manuel Durao Barroso (Portugal), Leszek Miller (Poland) et Juhan Parts (Estonia) for respecting the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact (EUROPE yesterday p 8) is just one aspect of the "joint contribution" formulated by the six Heads of government in their letter sent to the Irish presidency and the president of the Commission on Monday in view of the Spring Summit on 25 March.
In this letter, which some are calling a "counter initiative", the tripartite Franco-German-British summit this Wednesday in Berlin, will focus on preparation of the summit in March (see p 5) - the "Six" assert that they share the Commission's analysis according to which more urgent efforts are needed to attain the Lisbon objective by 2010, "We fully support the Irish presidency in moving forward the Lisbon agenda by bringing back the dynamics in the Lisbon strategy. The European Council debate will be particularly important. The European Council must send a clear message of confidence in the economic recover; and above all, one of determination to increase our efforts to meet the Lisbon goals in 2010. The six prime ministers underline certain aspects that deserve "special attention" and which should be one of the "priority objective in our discussions":
The EU must create better jobs: the excellent report by the work group chaired by Wim Kok formulated a series of recommendations: it is now up to the European Council to give this report a "political boost" and call on Member States to implement its recommendations: "the effective implementation of the Taskforce Report's recommendations is vital. We do not need new mechanisms or processes".
The EU has to promote research and innovation more: Public funds for research and development have to be used more efficiently and the participation of the private sector has to be encourage more. "We should focus on the following priorities: developing public and private sector partnerships, fostering international technological cooperation and exchanges, benchmarking the best tax incentive schemes for business innovation, and promoting the market for venture capital".
Regulation, markets and competitiveness: Outlined in the letter: "the European Union's legislative initiatives must seek the necessary balance between legitimate objectives of regulation and their impact on competitiveness, thus avoiding excessive burdens to business, especially SMEs. It also states that European legislation should be "correctly and timely transposed into national law".
Preparation of the mid term review for Lisbon strategy in 2005. We should define a consistent method for remedying existing deficits in implementing reforms and also improve the use of structural indicators, so as to provide a more adequate and fair image of annual progress in each Member State. The mid term review however, should not deflect our attention in 2004 from implementing the necessary structural reforms".
Economic recovery has to respect the principles of macro-economic stability: for which the stability and growth pact is an essential element (EUROPE yesterday p 8).