The Week in Europe 10-23/02/01

02.03.2001 | Euroskop

EU news in brief

Prodi calls for in-depth debate about the future of Europe

Commission President Romano Prodi has called for in-depth public debate about the direction of the EU. That had been missing from the run-up to the Nice summit, but basic questions about Europe must now be faced, he told MEPs in his state of the Union address on 13 February. Somewhere along the way, the thread of agreement between Member States was lost, Prodi said. This partly reflected a poor level of debate, as well as an emphasis on arguments about power. He called for fundamental questions about the aspirations for Europe to be addressed, and recalled the immense progress made in the half-century since the Treaty of Rome. The Nice Treaty is expected to be formally signed in all 11 EU official languages at a ceremony in Nice on 26 February.

[Background text: SPEECH/01/64]

Policy strategy promises better management of resources

The Commission adopted its first Annual Policy Strategy, linking political priorities with resource allocation, on 21 February. It covers six important areas for 2002, and will help shape the Commission's work programme for that year. The priorities are: the introduction of the euro; sustainable development; institutional governance; EU enlargement; links with Mediterranean countries; and development cooperation. Commission President Romano Prodi said that the decision showed a clear vision of political priorities and the management tools needed to plan resources accordingly. The focus on six areas did not mean the Commission would neglect other important work, he stressed; rather, the strategy was about identifying the ones requiring a special emphasis in 2002. Outlines for the preliminary draft budget for 2002, which is due to be proposed in May, are also included. [Background text: IP/01/239]

Air fare competition reviewed

Airlines' price-fixing arrangements come under scrutiny in a consultation paper published by the Commission on 8 February. It is planning to review the 'block exemption' from competition rules granted to airlines in the EU. Consumers benefit by being able to buy one ticket for journeys involving several airlines, and tickets that allow one to switch carriers. This 'interlining' is a condition of a Regulation that allows airlines to set rates through 'passenger tariff conferences' held by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The document is available from http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/antitrust/others/#consultation_interlining_feb_2001

[Background text: IP/01/181]

Plan to settle the beef market

A seven-point plan to tackle the disruption to the beef market resulting from the BSE crisis was put forward on 13 February by Commissioner Franz Fischler. It seeks to reduce output by encouraging less intensive beef production, as well as supporting the growing of fodder crops by organic farmers on set-aside land. The upper stocking density for a special cattle premium would fall, and Member States would no longer be able to waive a limit of 90 animals per holding for a special premium for male animals. A purchase scheme for cattle over 30 months would enable Member States to choose whether the meat should be stored or destroyed. The measures would limit production, but were also essential to allow farmers' incomes to recover, said Fischler. [Background text: IP/01/195]

· A test to detect BSE in sheep should be developed as a safeguard, an EU committee recommends. IP/01/208

Single standard for accounts

All listed companies in the EU would have to adopt International Accounting Standards (IAS) by 2005, under a Regulation put forward on 13 February. Using this single set of rules for financial reporting would help cut firms' costs of raising capital, through increased market efficiency, said Commissioner Frits Bolkestein. The common standard would make it easier to compare different companies' performance and cut barriers to cross-border trading in securities, he explained. Details at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/company/account/news/ias.htm

[Background text: IP/01/200, MEMO/01/40]

Financial services' online rules

A 'change of gear' on financial services provided over the Internet was presented by Commissioner Frits Bolkestein on 9 February. The comprehensive strategy he unveiled is designed to create a regulatory environment that encourages the development of e-commerce in financial services as well as consumer confidence. Its approach uses the principle that rules for cross-border sales of financial services should be those of the Member State in which the provider is established. The proposals, part of the action plan to create an integrated European market by 2005, are at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/finances/general/ecom.htm

[Background texts: IP/01/185, MEMO/01/33]

17% boost for research funds

A budget of 17.5bn euro has been proposed for the EU's next research framework programme for 2003-2006. This is a 17% increase over the budget of the current programme and reflects the emphasis on research and innovation in efforts to make the EU the world's most competitive knowledge-based economy. This target was endorsed by EU leaders at the Lisbon summit in March 2000, which also backed plans for creation of a European research area. The programme has seven themes: genomics and biotechnology for health; Information Society technologies; nanotechnologies, intelligent materials and new production methods; aeronautics and space; food safety and health risks; sustainable development and global change; and citizens and governance in European society. The programme aims to overcome some of the difficulties that constrain research at universities and businesses in Europe. With this in mind, it seeks to concentrate funding on a limited number of key priorities, help research teams to work together more closely in networks, and improve the mobility of researchers. Part of the budget will help improve the design of public policy at EU level, in anticipation of scientific and technological developments. Special measures are proposed to encourage participation by researchers in small and medium-sized enterprises. Details at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/whatsnew.html [Background text: IP/01/240]

Action on credit card fraud

A three-year action plan to tackle the growing problem of credit card fraud was unveiled by the Commission on 19 February. Such fraud amounts to an estimated 600m euro a year in the EU, and rose by 50% last year. Card and other non-cash means are widely used in cross-border payments, often by telephone or over the Internet. While dealing with the problem is the responsibility of the payments industry, the proposed plan aims to back this up by improving systems for cross-border cooperation and preventive measures. These include the introduction of a single telephone number for notifying the loss or theft of cards, guidelines for exchange of information, and agreement on the key items of evidence needed to investigate and prosecute cases. Cooperation would also be pursued with countries outside the EU and in international discussions. Details at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/whatsnew.htm [Background text: [IP/01/231]]

Sustainable use of chemicals?

Plans to streamline EU policy on chemicals were launched by the Commission on 13 February. They aim to ensure a high level of protection for human health and the environment, while allowing the single market to operate effectively. A single system would replace the current dual one, which has different testing rules. Substances that are carcinogenic, affect reproduction or accumulate would be subject to the strictest requirements, including authorisation. http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/chemicals/ [Background text: IP/01/201]

Towards greener products

A strategy to encourage 'greener' products is set out in a paper published on 8 February. The integrated product policy (IPP) seeks to improve the environmental performance of products throughout their lifecycle. This involves using fewer resources, reducing impacts and risks, and preventing waste generation factors that can be built into the design of products from the start. Comments are invited by 30 June; a stakeholder workshop is planned for 8-9 March. The IPP Green Paper is at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ipp/ [Background text: IP/01/180]

Industrial output accelerates

Industrial production rose by 2% in the euro zone and 1.4% in the EU last December, compared to November. The increase accelerated from 1.2% and -0.2% in November and October in the euro zone, and 0.9% and 0.4% respectively in the EU. Output was 8% higher in the euro zone than in the previous December (7.2% up for the EU). Growth in output in December 2000 was led by the Netherlands (6%), Denmark (5.1%) and Portugal (3.4%). It fell in the UK by 0.6%. [Background text: ES 21/2001]

'Sorry, I only speak English'

The dominance of English and the importance of knowing a foreign language are highlighted in a Eurobarometer survey published on 19 February. English is the most widely-spoken second language in the EU (41% of respondents), followed by French (19%), German (10%) and Spanish (7%). Nearly half (47%) speak only their mother tongue, ranging from 66% of people in the UK to just 2% in Luxembourg. More than 85% of people in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands can use another language, but fewer than 50% in Portugal, Spain and France. The idea that everyone should know a foreign language won wide backing (71%), although 74% cannot speak more than one. Researchers interviewed 16,000 people for the survey, in the EU in December. It was conducted for the 2001 European Year of Languages; its site is at http://www.eurolang2001.org/

[Background text: IP/01/226]

Diseases hamper development

HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis are targeted by a programme to tackle communicable diseases in developing countries. These diseases hold back less-developed countries' efforts to lift themselves out of poverty, as well as thriving in such conditions, Commissioner Poul Nielson said. 800m euro is available for health, Aids/HIV and population schemes from the current budget 8% of the development cooperation programme. The programme covers 2001-2006. [Background text: IP/01/235]

Business centres integrated

A single network of support centres will provide a range of services to businesses throughout the EU, following a review. The Commission has decided to streamline the existing networks, which have grown up from different policy initiatives over the past ten years. [Background text: IP/01/236]

Updating EU customs policy

An overhaul of customs policy to deal with fresh challenges was set out by the Commission on 16 February. Closer consultation and cooperation with businesses should make systems easier and less time-consuming for legitimate trade. [Background text: IP/01/219, MEMO/01/43]

The IT skills shortage was discussed at the first joint informal Employment and Telecoms Council on 15-17 February. Ministers backed plans to set up a task force to tackle the problem at EU level.

Aid for the Balkans worth 17.8m euro has been agreed for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia (FYROM). [Background text: IP/01/191]

A 100m euro package for Kosovo aims to support reconstruction work in housing, water and waste management, hospitals, and the development of local government and civil society. [Background text: IP/01/214]

Dummy euro banknotes will help disabled people to familiarise themselves with the currency before the real notes enter circulation on 1 January 2002. Kits and training material are being distributed. [Background text: IP/01/233]

Enlargement news

Parliament pushes council on visas for Romanians

The European Parliament looks more friendly than EU member states to Romanians. The Parliament's Committee for Citizens' Rights and Freedoms has criticised last December's Justice and Home Affairs Council for insisting on keeping the requirement for Romanians to obtain visas to get into the European Union. It has adopted a report by German Euro-MP Klaus-Heiner Lehne strongly urging that Romania should be removed from the EU's list of countries requiring visas for visits of less than three months. The Committee said this was not an appropriate way to treat countries that were being considered for EU membership, and that it was not fair that Romania should be the only country required to fulfil special conditions.

Member states remain worried that Romania's institutional and legal controls over their frontiers are unsatisfactory, and could be used by immigrants from Asia and the former Soviet Union as transit routes to the EU. EU sources acknowledge privately that Romania's huge Roma population, the largest in Europe, is another worry, particularly in the Benelux countries, which have already received large influxes. The European Parliament has consistently argued, however, that Romania (and Bulgaria, the other EU candidate country still subject to a visa requirement - although member states are ready to lift the requirement on Bulgaria) should be on the white list.

Tackling the stereotypes about polish agriculture

The Polish Ministry of Agriculture has gone on the offensive just as real negotiations are due to start on the agricultural aspects of Poland's accession to the EU. Deputy Agriculture Minister Jerzy Plewa came to Brussels on February 15 to deliver personally to EU audiences a comprehensive rebuttal of what he called EU stereotypes about Polish agriculture. A 24-page report he brought with him set out detailed arguments about the structure of farms, the competitiveness of agriculture, and questions relating to food safety, rural society, and direct payments. "The dynamic pace of transformations in Poland is under-appreciated or entirely ignored", the report says.

The strongest language is employed in the section on direct payments - not so much contesting stereotypes about Poland, but rebutting the EU's arguments for excluding Polish farmers. Refusing direct payments would put Polish farmers at an unacceptable competitive disadvantage, it argues. And the EU arguments that direct payments would impede reform or create big income gaps between agriculture and other sectors are, quite simply, wrong, it says.

Belgium, which will hold the EU Presidency in the second half of 2001 - and therefore occupy a crucial position in the negotiations as they come close to conclusion - is already taking its responsibilities very seriously. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt held his first ever meeting with his Czech counterpart, Milos Zeman, in Brussels in mid-February, and according to an official statement, "reached consensus in discussing the vision of European integration and a future alliance of small and medium-sized countries in the future enlarged EU". But Verhofstadt is not waiting for the candidates to come to him. He has announced a plan to visit all the candidate countries during the Belgian Presidency.

The EU Committee of the Regions announced on February 16 that it has set up a joint consultative committee with the Czech Republic. It will mainly be concerned with preparing Czech regional and local authorities for EU accession. According to the chair of the Committee of the Regions liaison group with the candidate countries, Lord Hanningfield, "all the regional and local authorities in the candidate countries complain that they have been hardly or not at all involved in the EU accession process".

French EPP MEP Marie-Thérčse Hermange, vice-chair of the European Parliament's social affairs committee, has set up a European campaign on child policy and enlargement: the aim is to create a Europe-wide body of leading figures to help candidate countries in ensuring the rights of children are fully respected. It also aims to set up an observatory on the living conditions for children in Europe.

Michel Barnier, Member of the European Commission responsible for Regional Policy and for the Intergovernmental Conference, visited on 22-23 February the Czech Republic. The Commissioner took part in the Conference “The Face of Our Country”, held under the auspices of the President of the Republic. During his stay in Prague M. Barnier met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Pavel Mertlik, Minister of Regional Development Petr Lachnit and members of the Chamber of Deputies European Integration and Regional Development Committees. He also met newly the elected Czech Regional Premiers to discuss the issues of self-government and regional policy.