The Hague, 30/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - During its Presidency, the Netherlands hopes to concentrate on "key dossiers which are fundamental to the citizens of Europe", Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende told a group of European journalists in The Hague on Wednesday. "This means that we will focus on rebalancing the European economy, internal security and continued enlargement", he said.
Economy. The European economy has "obvious weaknesses" compared to its international rivals (Mr Balkenende commented that it is 11 times harder to set up a business in European than in the United States). "We lack dynamism in the implementation of agreed reforms", in job market flexibility, for instance, he said. Nor does the EU fully exploit its potential: although everybody knows that the service sector is a bit creator of jobs, the EU has still not fully managed to bring in free movement of services. Another problem is the "red tape" bogging business down. "For this reason, the Dutch Presidency will stress the simplification and improvement of European legislation and rules", said Mr Balkenende. "I will do all I can to convince everybody to undertake urgent reforms: social security, job market rules, pensions". The new Member States have a particular experience in reforms, and this will be of benefit to the whole EU, he said.
Security, justice. "Europe should be a fully sovereign area where people feel free and safe", but only close co-operation between Europeans (and with other international parties) can achieve this. "We must strengthen information exchange and create a 'common market' of legal decisions, or harmonise drug policy". The Presidency will also work to develop a European asylum, migration and integration policy, said Mr Balkenende: "We intend to adopt a multi-annual programme in November to follow up from the Tampere programme".
Enlargement. The ten new countries should be fully involved, as soon as possible, in all aspects of the work of the Community institution, and the accession process for Bulgaria (which has already finished its technical negotiations) and Romania (which hopes to conclude its negotiations by the end of the year) will continue. As for Turkey, the Presidency feels that December's decision should be a "sustainable and well thought-out" decision, with the support of all Member States.
Answering questions from the floor, Mr Balkenende talked of:
- the financial perspectives. The Presidency aims to reach consensus on the guidelines by the end of the year, and on principles to find an agreement in 2005. On The Hague's veto in the Constitution on the adoption of the financial perspectives, Mr Balkenende stressed that "we are ready to use the bridging clause to move to qualified majority to adopt the financial perspectives as soon as a corrective mechanism has been agreed" to find a better balance in budget contributions (The Netherlands are by far the biggest net contributors by head of population). This "corrective mechanism" is also to be one of the "principles" on which the Dutch Presidency hopes to move forward and reach agreement in the next six months. -Referendum on the Constitution: A consultative referendum will be held in the Netherlands, but this is unlikely before the end of the year, given that Dutch legislation requires a minimum of 50 days between the signing of the Constitution and the referendum. In theory, Mr Balkenende is in favour of referendums on the same day, but practical issues and "different constitutional positions" in the Member States make this impossible. Former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis' idea of setting up a high-level group to campaign for the ratification of the Constitution is "a good one", but the Dutch Presidency would like to consult the Member States before deciding how to proceed with this suggestion "We still have work to do on this proposal". Mr Balkenende is pleased with the Constitution overall, "because it makes Europe more democratic, efficient and transparent (...), and gives new guarantees that Europe will not overstep its mark". -Turkey: President Bush's words in support of opening accession negotiations with Turkey were "inappropriate". "I told Mr Bush [in Istanbul] that this is a matter for Europeans to decide (...). I made myself quite clear". He preferred to wait for the Commission's report before making any decisions. "This is also why I told Mr Bush that today is too soon to set a date for negotiations to start". The Commission is currently working on an impact assessment of Turkey's accession on the EU, "but this will not be an excuse to create a new accession criterion, a new obstacle for Turkey, because this would be making up the rules as we go along", although Turkey was recognised as a candidate in 1999. Giving Ankara a "privileged partnership" rather than accession would also be moving the goalposts, and would go against the decision of principle taken in 1999, he said.