Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-03-Speech-2-268"
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".
Mr President, the Commission has today adopted a communication on the rationalisation of the coordination of economic and employment policies. This coordination, at Union level, creates a framework within which the Member States define their own policies. It also contributes to progress on the ambitious Lisbon objectives.
The second key point of the proposals presented today by the Commission is improving the efficiency of coordination. In this respect, we suggest that we focus more on the medium term when it comes to drawing up guidelines.
The raft of guidelines will adopt a more differentiated medium-term perspective and will be reviewed in their entirety just once every three years. In the intervening years the changes will be restricted to those necessary to take account of the most significant events during that period. The more strategic approach will give stability to the guidelines on the different policies and allow them to be better monitored.
Furthermore, coherence will be improved by greater clarity in the contents of the respective instruments and their synchronisation. This better complementarity will strengthen the basic political messages.
The Commission suggests that this rationalisation be implemented quickly and the first raft of new guidelines should be updated at the spring European Council of 2003, with the Commission presenting its first implementation assessment package at the beginning of 2004. Consequently, the new cycle will be completely under way before the elections to this Parliament.
In addition to these improvements which will begin to operate by the 2003 cycle, the Commission has proposed a series of amendments relating to the law currently in force in the Treaties, aimed at the coordination of economic policies. I am not going to get into this issue today; I simply wish to point out, as I said at the beginning of my speech, that these issues are linked to the process of streamlining we are discussing today, since, as I said, we are working on the basis of existing legislation.
I would like to end by stressing that the Commission appreciates Parliament’s contribution of policy coordination and we eagerly await your suggestions on the guidelines we are going to propose and on this rationalisation process. Your contributions and participation are a sign of your commitment to the common guidelines for the different policies and to an improvement in economic and social results.
My colleague Anna Diamantopoulou will comment on certain further elements relating to this coordination process which we have both presented jointly today.
We all know that the general coordination framework has become an increasingly more complex framework. Too often new elements have been added as they became necessary and this situation has helped neither the coherence of the guidelines for the different policies nor the understanding of them. You, as Parliament, have presented us with various proposals to improve the situation and, while working on the basis of existing legislation, we have tried to take them into consideration.
Rationalising coordination is not restricted simply to improving timetables and organisation, as it may seem at first sight. We have tried to fundamentally change the coherence of policies and the evaluation of their implementation, thereby contributing to progress in the increase in growth potential, the creation of more and better jobs, an improvement in social cohesion and sustainable development.
With all of this in mind, the Commission makes concrete proposals in its communication to increase efficiency and coordination, to improve coherence and complementarity amongst the different processes and instruments, to stimulate our commitments and our ‘ownership’ in relation to a greater involvement by Parliament and social partners, and increase the transparency and understanding of policy coordination and therefore its visibility and effects. These important political improvements will increase the Union’s capacity to achieve its ambitious economic and employment objectives.
I would like to mention two key points: firstly, the Commission proposes a better structure for the cycle of policy coordination based on three points: execution, political orientations and guidelines. These will be the key points which will make the coordination cycle more transparent and improve its effects.
The cycle will begin with the preparation of the spring European Council. At the beginning of each year the Commission will present a package on the evaluation of implementation which will accompany the spring report and that package will present both the development of progress in the various areas involving the implementation of the broad guidelines of economic policy and the draft joint report on employment.
The spring report will therefore focus on the points on which progress must be speeded up and will propose key political guidelines for the spring European Council.
On this basis, in the middle of March the spring European Council will produce some general political guidelines and at the beginning of April the Commission, with these guidelines in mind, will present its guidelines which will include both the broad guidelines of economic policy and the employment guidelines.
Finally, the competent departments of the Commission will adopt this raft of guidelines once they have obtained the support of the European Council in June."@en1
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