Brussels, 01/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on Wednesday to representatives of the European Parliaments and parliaments of the Member States of the EU, meeting in Brussels on 31 January and 1st February for the “Parliaments on the Road to Lisbon” Forum to assess the reforms, discuss best practice and ways of developing better inter-parliamentary cooperation, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso called on MEPs and national parliamentarians to encourage their political leaders to keep their promises on modernisation for growth and employment. Through analysis of the 25 national Lisbon Strategy action plans, the Commission has been able to note everything at every level was in place for a new step to be taken, said Mr Barroso. He explained that the time had come to honour commitments and to move up a gear, then called on Parliamentarians to become involved immediately in the acceleration of reforms and to remind their leaders of the undertakings they had given, make them accountable and push them to go further in achieving the Union's targets.
During the debate, it was obvious from what national parliamentarians were saying that their as a broad consensus at Member State level in the debate on the revised Lisbon Agenda. Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian and Czech representatives spoke of the great involvement of their institutions in the implementation process of reform and other programmes, while a Portuguese representative lamented his parliament's slight involvement in the debate. A British MP stressed that responsibility for greater effectiveness in the action plans lay principally with national parliaments. “Five years after the launch of the Strategy we can hear the mill turn but we don't see any flour,” said the leader of the Austrian Parliament, Andreas Khol. He went on to say that those who criticised Europe did so because of the lack of growth and jobs and opined that a more refined logic, closer involvement of national parliaments and greater coordination between them and the European Parliament were essential. He continued, “this meeting must be a call to action”.
Opening the debate, Austrian Chancellor and President of the Council of the EU, Wolfgang Schüssel said that to bridge the gap between the European people and politics, between the citizens of the Union and its institutions, dialogue between national parliaments and the institutions was essential. He went on to say that Europe would not find favour unless “we have the courage to teach citizens that Europe is not something distant, which speaks to people through a loudspeaker. We have ways of solving conflicts without resorting to the sword: dialogue that allows pragmatic solutions to be found for our citizens”.
Welcoming the little signs that indicated that growth was returning, Mr Schüssel called on the EU not to concentrate solely on the economic competitiveness section of the Lisbon Strategy. If we take away one of the pillars, the whole building will collapse, he warned, going on to say that we had to defend the European model that is based on social cohesion. Quoting Jacques Delors, Luxemburg Socialist Robert Goebbels said that social questions area factor in growth not a by-product of growth.
President of the European Parliament Josep Borell, worried lowering standards, called on the European social model not to be given up. Returning from the Salzburg conference on the future of Europe, he argued that with inequalities growing in their societies, the most competitive countries -the United States, India and China - were not models. Mr Borrell also complained of eh lack of an overall vision of Europe. He said that we remained caught in national preoccupations, citing as an example the current battle over VAT which is paralysing the EU because there has to be a unanimous decision. He added that without qualified majority decision making, hostilities have broken, out between some old and new Member States. How, he asked, could a European worker understand that the VAT rate on a product that did not go beyond national borders, that was therefore not competing, could be subject to the veto of another Member State? Yet at the same time, he said, member States could set their own rate of direct taxation, a key element in competitiveness and which affected where investment went.
On the financial perspectives, Mr Borrell said that despite the agreement obtained by the Council in December 2005, "the Union will struggle to respond to the challenges it is presented with by a Community budget standing at just 1.045% of European GNI". "The debate on the financial perspectives is about the economic resources we want the Union to have. Today, however, the Member States' reasoning is done mainly in accounting terms: 'this is what I have paid in and this is how much I get in return' (...). This logic promotes national egotism, omits the advantages of belonging to the Union and pays no heed to solidarity", lamented the President of the European Parliament.
On this subject, Mr Schüssel, for his part, said that there remained little room for manoeuvre. "This is no way to fund Europe", he said, going on to call for a "real debate about the own resources of the Union, if we want a strong Europe". Calling on the Member States to "take ownership of" the Lisbon Agenda, "by undertaking to transpose their good intentions themselves", and by concentrating on a few essential points (the situation with employment, investment in research and development, training and life-long learning and the sustainability of public finances), Chancellor Schüssel stressed the need for "common and freely undertaken commitments". In particular, Mr Schüssel pointed the finger at "a common vector for jobs which is frequently under-estimated": European SMEs. "If one out of every two of the 23 million SMEs, which employ 75 million European citizens, created one extra job, unemployment would fall by half", said the Austrian Chancellor, going on to stress the importance of removing administrative obstacles, reducing red tape and increasing SME consultation. The president of the committee on foreign affairs of the Austrian parliament, Werner Fasslabend, also spoke of the need to improve the economic and administrative environment for SMEs. Amongst other things, Mr Fasslabend referred to a study carried out in Austria, which showed that 90% of European funds are paid to public institutions or enterprises, and just 6% goes to benefit SMEs. Mr Barroso welcomed the idea put forward by several Member States to look into the principle of a kind of positive discrimination in favour of SMEs.
The issue of the completion of the single market, which, according to Mr Borrell, "will be achieved by the liberalisation of services, guaranteeing adequate social protection", was also raised several times by those who took the floor. In the view of President Borrell, "this is a debate which centres on the European model, which we can no longer avoid talking about". Mr Schüssel noted: if there is a convincing majority on the "services" directive at the vote of the February plenary session in Strasbourg, a solution will be found on this basis. Mr Barroso reiterated that "without a directive on services, our commitment under the Lisbon Agenda will have little credibility". "We need a better-integrated and more modern services market, but a balanced one. I am delighted to note that the European Trade Unions Confederation has stated that it would like to see a better directive on services, as this is what we also want", he continued.
The energy issue was also brought up by many of those who took the floor. Mr Schüssel and Mr Borrell stressed the need for the Union to act to reduce its energy vulnerability due, amongst other things, to its great dependency on imports. "We can opt to keep national sovereignty, an approach which has already been overtaken by events, or decide to draw up a common energy policy", said Mr Borrell. The Austrian Chancellor, for his part, said that the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine has clearly shown that a "discussion, at European level, on ways of guaranteeing our long-term energy provision is of vital importance". "This discussion must come on top of the debate on growth and employment", Mr Schüssel added. "We need to improve the coordination of the national energy resources and to step up competition. This issue is also linked to the increase in research expenditure, with a view to developing clean and sustainable sources of energy", said Mr Barroso.