Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-27-Speech-3-058"
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Thank you very much, Mr President, for your compassion towards the Presidency-in-Office of the Council. Not all parliaments are so friendly to the government.
Lastly, Mr President, I would like to comment on the reform of the European labour market as a priority of the Barcelona Council. There is no doubt that the development of employment in Europe has been satisfactory but not sufficient, as demonstrated by the fact that, at the highest points of the cycle, the European economy maintains structural rates of unemployment, notably greater than those of other regions such as the United States. And furthermore there is no doubt that the labour market’s capacity to adapt to evolutions in the economic cycle ensures quicker recovery of the economies and, therefore, more intense recoveries of employment at times of sustained growth or at the high points in the cycle.
In this respect, the Presidency believes that more progress must be made on active policies relating to labour markets, focussing on groups which have difficulties accessing the labour market, and also reducing the fiscal burdens relating to employment. There has already been progress in this respect, but we believe that efforts must continue to focus, on the one hand, on measures on work opportunities such as those based on a review of the Luxembourg process, so that we may have a better system of incentives in relation to work creation. With regard to the demand for work, we must promote work-seeking by the unemployed, by means of policies which make it absolutely clear that it is better from both an individual and a collective point of view to work than to be receiving benefit, both in terms of personal development and the financial situation of everybody, and also to promote schemes for extending the retirement age in all our countries.
There are specific issues such as the increase in the employment of women, special care for women with young children and the reconciliation of their family and work responsibilities, and also introducing greater capacity for European companies to adapt to the evolution of demand, to adapt their costs to European and international demand situations, as well as a system for setting salaries which allows, in addition to the appropriate involvement of social partners, sufficient flexibility and decentralisation which offers companies the margin to adapt to very different geographical and sectorial markets throughout the European economy and the globalised economy.
Mobility is also one of the challenges, not only on a European level, but on a national level, and particularly on a regional level, and here I believe that policies for seeking better practices and comparisons between the policies of each of the countries are essential measures which must be promoted in Barcelona.
All these issues relating to the labour market must inspire the review of the Luxembourg process and give impetus to the adoption of the necessary structural reforms of the labour markets in each of the countries of the European Union.
Mr President, at the European Council, in addition to these three areas of the financial markets, network industries and the labour market, the Presidency is going to incorporate, for the first time, an analysis of the relationship between growth and the environment, or in other words, the need for environmentally sustainable growth, and to this end, it is clear that we must make progress on formulae which guarantee sustainable development.
I would like to make the following comments in relation to the incorporation of the sustainable development strategy at the Barcelona European Council:
In accordance with what was agreed at the United Nations Assembly in Rio in 1997, the Gothenburg European Council added a third environmental dimension to the process of economic reform, as I have said, and in accordance with these conclusions, the Council took note of the need to draw up a ‘road map’ of an annual nature, with the measures to be taken in the environmental field, within the strategy of sustainable development, and to be taken into account by the Presidency of the Council, in collaboration with the Commission.
The Laeken European Council welcomed the choice of environmental indicators, for the monitoring of the implementation of the sustainable development strategy, and also welcomed the progress made in relation to the European ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
Using the environmental indicators which I have just referred to, which were approved at the Laeken Council on 17 January 2002, a first synthesis report has been presented assessing the process carried out.
With regard to the reform of the capitals and financial services markets, the Presidency believes that completing the process of integrating the European financial system is a fundamental challenge within the general objectives of the Presidency.
With regard to the Ecofin Council, at its next meeting next week, on 5 March, a report on this issue will be discussed, that is to say a synthesis report which has already been prepared by the Economic Policy Committee and which will allow the Barcelona European Council, as well as successive spring Councils, to continue to guarantee the implementation of the three dimensions of sustainable development. The Barcelona conclusions, together with the Commission’s communication, must allow the Seville European Council at the end of the Spanish Presidency, on 25 and 26 June, to prepare the European Union’s position for the summit on sustainable development which will take place in Johannesburg in September 2002.
Finally, Mr President, I would like to mention the framework for the development of entrepreneurs in Europe, which is another concern that various Councils have demonstrated, and which will be taken into account in Barcelona, especially in relation to the development of a suitable framework for small businesses and new entrepreneurs in Europe.
Last weekend, the Presidency held an informal Council of Ministers on small and medium-sized businesses in Aranjuez, in Spain, which came to several conclusions that I would like to communicate to the European Parliament.
Firstly, the commitment to hold informal Councils on small and medium-sized businesses, before the structural reform summits in the spring, which can communicate specific recommendations to the spring summits in relation to a sector which represents more than 90% of European companies and a considerable proportion of employment in our countries.
Secondly, specifically in relation to the Barcelona Summit, the Aranjuez meeting believes that member countries and the Commission must be informed of the need to favour the development framework for European small and medium-sized businesses by means of two methods: firstly, by reducing time limits and administrative costs through the use of new legal instruments which are easier for entrepreneurs to implement and secondly, by using telematic means, and at this first stage of a quicker and less expensive framework in terms of time and costs, to make a detailed analysis of how each of the legislative measures taken affects small and medium-sized businesses.
Therefore, legislators and governments must think firstly on a small scale, bearing in mind the effects their legislation and regulatory measures may have on small and medium-sized businesses, and they must do so while taking account of the contacts made with the business organisations for small and medium-sized businesses.
Mr President, with regard to priorities of the Spanish Presidency, the Ecofin Council will analyse next week, on 5 March, a priority which responds to a mandate of the Laeken Council, in relation to the need to improve and increase our presence in the development of the countries of the south of the Mediterranean, seeking instruments which take account of costs, but which also allow the countries of the south of the Mediterranean to play a greater role. It is a question of introducing a genuine partnership into the formula for pursuing the economic and social development of these countries. This must focus not only on works and infrastructure, but also on the creation of a genuine fabric of industries and private businesses, a genuine economic civil society in the countries of the south of the Mediterranean.
Work is being done in this regard within Ecofin, in the Financial and Economic Committee, together with the European Investment Bank, on proposals which, probably within the field of the European Investment Bank and in cooperation with the Commission, may allow the existence of a development institution in the Mediterranean, with the priority and majority participation of the European institutions, and specifically the European Investment Bank, but also the borrower countries which can cooperate in the design of development programmes, as well as third countries, inside and outside the region, which wish to cooperate with Europe and with the countries of the south of the Mediterranean on this initiative.
Lastly, Mr President, the candidate countries will participate in Barcelona and, to this end, the Barcelona European Council has invited not only the Heads of State but also the Economic Ministers, who will hold a meeting on the structural reform of the enlargement countries, together with the European Union’s Economic Ministers.
I would like to end my speech, Mr President, by thanking the European Parliament for being kind enough to allow the Presidency to participate in this sitting, during which I believe we will not only be able to explain the Presidency’s positions, but also reply to the questions and initiatives which the different parliamentary groups and Members may raise on structural reform in Europe and on the priorities of the Spanish Presidency.
In this respect, the efforts to create a genuine financial and capitals market in Europe are concentrated on three important areas: firstly the achievement of a fully integrated share market, that is, of fully integrated European stock exchanges by 2003. Secondly, the achievement of the so-called ‘financial services action plan’ in 2005 and, finally, the achievement of the objectives of the ‘risk capital action plan’, which is essential to the development of the funding of small and medium-sized companies.
Thank you very much, Mr President.
These are, no doubt, ambitious aims, Mr President, which cannot be achieved – and I believe all the European institutions have understood this – without a more rapid and flexible legislative procedure that meets the needs of markets as dynamic as the financial markets, which, furthermore, are fully globalised markets, as we all know.
In this regard, and in line with the initiatives taken under the French Presidency, a working group chaired by Mr Lamfalussy was set up and it communicated its recommendations to the European institutions and, after a process of negotiation between the Commission, the Council and Parliament, agreements were reached. I would like once again to congratulate Parliament on its cooperation in this respect.
I believe that the first directives the Spanish Presidency will try to promote, and which will benefit from the new legislative framework, are those on which there is already a political agreement as a result of the efforts of previous presidencies, and especially the Belgian Presidency, which I would like to acknowledge here.
The directive on market abuse is essential – as Parliament knows – to guaranteeing the rules of conduct which investment services companies are subject to and which guarantee the protection of all investors on a European level.
Furthermore, Parliament is currently studying the directive on financial guarantees, which may be approved under the Spanish Presidency, and to this we must add the regulation on international accounting rules, which will provide a European framework for accounting which will increase the transparency and comparability of information throughout the European financial markets.
In Barcelona we must also move forward and pay attention to directives which, although they will probably not be adopted during the Spanish Presidency, are going to mean considerable progress and can be adopted under subsequent presidencies; furthermore, the directive on brochures, which is aimed at harmonising the transparency obligations of issuers; secondly, the directive on financial conglomerates, which will provide sensible regulations on a European level, by trying to reduce the so-called systematic risks by means of greater cooperation as established in the Brouwer report;
thirdly, the directive on pension funds, which is clearly essential in order to achieve a genuine supplementary pension fund market in Europe, which will benefit workers and all citizens, and which requires a suitable balance between their needs, the security of investors, and freedom to diversify the portfolios of these funds within a framework of security; and progress is also being made on other directives which we hope will be given impetus under the Spanish Presidency."@en1
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