Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-13-Speech-3-008"
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"en.20050413.2.3-008"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, honourable Members, I am delighted to come here today to share with you the Commission’s analysis of the conclusions of the Spring European Council and to explain how the Commission intends to follow up the important decisions taken there.
The Commission intends to present its proposals for amending the relevant regulations before the end of this month so that reform can be completed by June. It is in everyone’s interest that we make rapid progress on finalising the reform of the Pact in order to offer greater transparency and predictability regarding public finances and budgetary developments.
This is an ambitious timetable but one that can undoubtedly be achieved with the cooperation of all the players involved: the Member States, the European Parliament, and the European Central Bank. I am sure that I can count on your cooperation in attaining these objectives. The Commission will do what is necessary to ensure the success of this joint project and is ready to work closely with you to do this, as requested in the joint motion for a resolution. In order to be effective, the Pact must count on the broadest political support, which is why wide support within Parliament is of the utmost importance.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the very active role played by the Presidency, the recent meeting of the European Council has generated the political impetus that was needed to relaunch our pursuit of the Lisbon aims. We have put this strategy back on track by giving it clear objectives, namely growth and employment, together with targeted and effective initiatives and simplified instruments while respecting, needless to say, the permanent aims of the Union, particularly sustainable development. The Commission is extremely satisfied with this outcome, because its proposals were the starting point for the deliberations and conclusions of the European Council.
Personally, I am delighted that the Heads of State or Government approved and validated our approach so unanimously. This bears eloquent testimony to the role of playmaker that the Commission – supported, of course, by the European Parliament, whose major resolution on the subject deserves mention – can perform in fields which, we must recognise, are largely a matter for national governments.
The substance of our messages was well received. The discussions among the Heads of State or Government showed that the Member States had truly taken our ideas on board. In deciding now to relaunch the Lisbon Strategy, the Member States were also responding to the Kok report, which was discussed by the European Council in November. Their next task is to designate national coordinators and to prepare, by the end of the year, reform programmes setting out in detail the measures to be taken to boost growth and employment.
The realignment of the strategy towards growth and employment within a context of sustainable development won broad support. All available national and Community resources pertaining to the three strands – economic, social and environmental – must be exploited if these goals are to be achieved. The European Council provided the necessary clarification regarding the Lisbon objectives and their relationship with the sustainable development strategy. Improved governance, accepted as essential to implementation by the Member States, was also an important aspect, because it really served to test the credibility of the new Lisbon Strategy and to establish whether the Member States were genuinely disposed to accept a stronger system of governance. Their response was favourable.
The main elements of this system will be the integrated guidelines and the national reform programmes to be presented at the end of 2005. The task for the Commission now is to continue this work by formalising the follow-up to the conclusions of the European Council. I distinguish four key milestones for the coming months.
The first milestone was the adoption by the Commission yesterday, on 12 April, of the integrated guidelines which were presented to the House this afternoon by Vice-President Verheugen and Commissioners Almunia and Spidla. This is an important exercise through which the Commission confirms the sharper focus on growth and employment and provides the Member States with a single coherent framework for the preparation of their respective programmes. The European Council will be asked to validate this politically at its June summit.
Our approach creates added value in three respects. Firstly, it serves to enhance the consistency of the actions and reforms to be carried out in the macroeconomic and microeconomic spheres and in the field of employment, shedding necessary light on the process of economic governance and safeguarding the essential balance between the operational strategy and political visibility. Secondly, it initiates the preparation of the first element of the new three-year Lisbon cycle. Lastly, it provides the political and strategic framework within which the Member States are to construct their national reform programmes.
The second milestone in this process will be the presentation of a Community Lisbon programme. The European Council expressed the wish that the Commission present a Community action programme as a counterpart to the national programmes. This document, which is to be prepared for the coming summer, will list the actions that were enumerated in the document accompanying our communication of 2 February on the revision of the Lisbon Strategy. The Commission will also implement this Community programme rapidly by presenting the numerous major initiatives which we identified and which were confirmed by the European Council, such as the reform of state aid, the creation of a European Technology Institute and the i2010 initiative.
I broadly welcome the conclusions of the Spring Council, which were particularly significant, given that this Council was held at such a crucial time and that the EU needed to demonstrate that it is capable of addressing the main social and economic challenges currently facing Europe.
The third milestone will be a communication in the form of a methodological guide to national reporting. In this way, the Commission will provide initial guidance for the preparation of national reports. The fourth and final milestone will be the preparation and analysis of the national programmes, which, we envisage, will take place in the second half of the year. We have therefore seen, and we can now confirm, that this was truly more than a mere political declaration, that the European Council really sought to reclaim the Lisbon Strategy and that we are already in the process of putting it into practice.
On the fringes of the discussion on the Lisbon Strategy, the European Council reaffirmed the importance of an internal market in services as a means of achieving the key aims of growth and employment while emphasising the need to preserve the European social model. The European Council asked that every effort be made in the framework of the legislative process relating to the services directive to build a broad consensus behind each of these objectives. I must emphasise once again, as I did on 2 February, that the Commission believes it is possible to achieve this consensus. In this respect, your Parliament naturally has a crucial role to play.
The third major issue discussed by the European Council was sustainable development. I am gratified that the conclusions of the spring summit served to reaffirm the importance of the sustainable development strategy while making it clear that the Lisbon Strategy contributes to the pursuit of the broader aim of sustainable development.
In this context, it is also important to note that the European Council acknowledged the immensity of the challenge of climate change, specifying in particular that the global annual increase in surface temperatures must not exceed two degrees Celsius in relation to the pre-industrial era. I also note with satisfaction the warm welcome given to the Commission’s communication entitled
and the request that the Commission continue its cost-benefit analysis of strategies for the reduction of CO2 emissions. This will help the Union to devise a medium- and long-term strategy designed to reduce emissions in industrialised countries by 15 to 30% by the year 2020. The Commission intends to continue its activity through the second phase of the European programme on climate change.
Lastly, I am pleased that the European Council has clearly signalled the will of the Union to reinvigorate the international negotiations by exploring options for a post-2012 arrangement. The European Council wishes to see the adoption in June of a declaration on the guiding principles of sustainable development and intends to examine the revision of the sustainable development strategy in the second half of this year. In this domain too, the Commission will make appropriate proposals for the achievement of the Council’s aims.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me say in conclusion that the outcome of the spring meeting of the European Council, as you will surely agree, is an excellent platform from which to work towards reflation of the EU economy in the far broader framework of the quest for sustainable development. Much work, however, remains to be done before the objectives and decisions adopted by the European Council can be fully achieved and implemented. This will require the mobilisation of all interested parties, and I can assure you that the Commission, for its part, is fully mobilised to render its contribution without delay. I am counting on your participation and active support.
I shall finish as I started, by referring to the idea of convergence between the institutions, convergence on medium-term objectives, and I believe that it is this same spirit of convergence – which was also present yesterday, by the way, when I addressed the Temporary Committee on political challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union – which must prevail in the period ahead. The European Council managed to make significant progress at its spring summit, revising both the Lisbon Strategy and the Stability and Growth Pact. The next hurdle we must clear is the Financial Perspective. To this end, cooperation between the Commission and Parliament will be essential – as, of course, will be the work we do in close cooperation with the European Council.
I believe that we have responded satisfactorily to this challenge and that the Commission has given the necessary impulse and political guidance. I must take this opportunity to praise the efforts and skills of President Juncker and, more broadly, of the Luxembourg Presidency, throughout this process. At this point, I should like to draw your attention to an idea, with regard to this Council, that I consider essential, both today and for the Union’s future: the idea of convergence between the main institutions.
Indeed, the first paragraph of the conclusions is clear on the Commission’s strategic objectives for the period 2005-2009, which I myself put forward: ‘The Heads of State or Government took note and welcomed the close agreement between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on the Union’s priorities, particularly with regard to legislative activity for the coming years’. It is this spirit that will help us overcome the difficulties that the Union expects to face in the future.
On the practical side, I should like to point out that the decisions taken at the European Council on the Stability and Growth Pact and the relaunched Lisbon Strategy will enable Member States to redouble their efforts to achieve the triptych at the June European Council, and hopefully to conclude the agreement on the Union’s future financial perspectives.
I would now like to comment in more detail on the three main subjects which, as you know, were discussed at the Spring European Council.
Firstly, the Stability and Growth Pact. As we all know, consensus on the Pact broke down in November 2003. A new consensus on a proper fiscal framework has now been reached. The Commission made a very important contribution to this end. The Commission launched debates in its 2004 public finance report and in September 2004 the Commission adopted a communication on strengthening and clarifying the Stability and Growth Pact. Since then, the Commission has actively contributed to the debate on the reform of the Pact and supported the presidency in its efforts to find a consensus, while preserving the essence of our budgetary framework.
The European Council’s agreement was a very positive outcome, restoring credibility to the Pact and preserving the Commission’s prerogatives. Under this agreement the Treaty principles are maintained. The budget deficit of Member States cannot exceed 3% of GDP and government debt is still limited to 60%. To avoid excessive deficits any overstepping of these limits can only be temporary and only in exceptional circumstances.
A new feature is that Member States are being asked to exercise more discipline. They must step up their efforts to reduce deficits in growth periods, while a degree of flexibility has been introduced for periods of economic difficulty."@en1
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"Winning the battle against global climate change"1
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