The Week in Europe 15-21/07/02

EU news in brief

Telework: new Agreement is good news for workers and business, says Commission

An agreement to give some 4.5 million employed teleworkers in the EU more security, whilst maintaining business flexibility, was welcomed by the European Commission. The agreement between European-level representatives of employers and trade unions was signed today in Brussels.

Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, said: "This is a landmark deal. Not only will this initiative benefit both workers and businesses, but it is the first European agreement to be implemented by the social partners themselves. This shows the coming of age of European social dialogue.”

The agreement was signed by the ETUC, UNICE/UEAPME and CEEP. The agreement defines telework and sets up a general framework at European level for teleworkers' working conditions. It recognises that teleworkers are afforded the general protection granted to workers based on the employer's premises and highlights 7 key areas where the specificities of telework need to be taken into account. The agreement is to be implemented within three years of the date of signature. The member organisations will report on its implementation. A European report will be prepared on the basis of national reports within four years of the signing of the agreement.

[Background paper IP/02/1057]

Commission and ESA launch a consultation platform for satellite-based Global Monitoring of Environment and Security

Today in Brussels EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin and the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Mr. Antonio Rodotŕ, officially opened a large stakeholder consultation process aiming to define European needs to enhance satellite-based global monitoring for the environment and security (GMES). Satellites can help the EU monitor climate change, address international crises and contain natural disasters. 250 participants, representing users, suppliers and researchers, addressed policy options to upgrade Europe's capability for global monitoring by 2008. Combining space, land-based and airborne technologies, GMES will pool together Europe's activities in satellite observation and remote sensing. GMES seeks to better exploit Europe's existing and planned capabilities and infrastructures and to develop mechanisms for better collecting and distributing information. Data from ENVISAT and from other spaceborne, terrestrial, air and seaborne observation systems will allow European researchers, private companies and public authorities to better track environmental pollution, react to emergencies, improve cross-border response to catastrophic events, follow movements of refugees, facilitate the distribution of aid, and support peace-keeping troops outside Europe.

[Background paper IP/02/1055]

Commission adopts comprehensive reform of competition rules for car sales and servicing

The European Commission has adopted a bold but balanced reform of the competition rules for the motor vehicle sector. The new regulation aims to put right the competition problems identified in the Commission's 2000 evaluation report on the current competition regime. It is designed to increase competition and bring tangible benefits to European consumers for both vehicle sales and servicing. The regulation will open the way to greater use of new distribution techniques, such as Internet sales. It will lead to more competition between dealers, make cross-border purchases of new vehicles significantly easier, and lead to greater price competition. Consumers will be better informed and it will be easier to compare cars and associated services offered by dealers. Car owners will have easier access to after-sales servicing, potentially at lower prices. At the same time, the quality of vehicle servicing and repairs will be fully maintained. The new regulation comes into force on 1 October 2002, with a one-year transition period allowing for the adaptation of existing contracts A specific longer transition period until 30 September 2005 applies to the phasing-out of location clauses.

[Background paper IP/02/1073]

More jobs throughout Europe: Commission welcomes evaluation of EES (European Employment Strategy)

Improvements in the workings of EU labour markets have created more jobs across Europe, concludes a five-year evaluation of the European Employment Strategy (EES) adopted in summary form in a Commission Communication. The EES was launched at the Luxembourg Jobs Summit nearly five years ago, with the aim of combating unemployment. The evaluation looks at the performance of the labour market over the last five years and also gives some pointers to the future shape of the EES. The evaluation will provide input to the political debate on the future of the Strategy, which will lead to a proposal from the Commission for a new generation of Employment Guidelines. The evaluation has been made jointly by Member States and the Commission, using national evaluation studies as a main input.

More information at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2002/may/eval_en.html

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2002/may/communication_en.html

[Background paper IP/02/1067]

Commission proposing to revitalise energy cooperation with the developing countries

With the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development only weeks away, the Commission has tabled specific recommendations to revitalise energy cooperation with the developing countries. The EU Energy Initiative to be presented at Johannesburg is at the heart of these proposals. ”Long neglected, both internationally and in the framework of Community development aid policy, energy must urgently be given a place in EU development cooperation that reflects its central role in the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic dimension of security of supply, the social dimension of combating poverty and the environmental dimension,” said Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President in charge of energy and transport. "Africa's energy consumption is largely based on fuel wood, collected by hand and transported over increasing distances, adding to deforestation, desertification and poverty. If cost-efficient alternatives are not developed, energy will be a major brake on economic growth and sustainable development in Africa," added Poul Nielson, Development Commissioner.

[Background paper IP/02/1075]

Economic governance in an enlarged European Union - President Prodi appoints High-Level Study Group

European Commission President Romano Prodi has decided to appoint a High-Level Study Group to review all the economic instruments that currently exist at EU level and assess their suitability as proper instruments of economic governance in the context of enlargement. The Group will also examine whether or not new policies are needed so as to ensure growth, stability and cohesion. President Prodi has asked the Group to finalise its report by Spring 2003. In preparing its report, the Group will be assisted by the Commission's Group of Policy Advisors.

[Background paper IP/02/1101]

Eurostat News Releases

June 2002: Euro-zone annual inflation down to 1.8%; EU15 down to 1.6%

Euro-zone annual inflation fell from 2.0% in May to 1.8% in June 2002, Eurostat reports today. A year earlier the rate was 3.0%. EU15 annual inflation fell from 1.8% in May to 1.6% in June 2002. A year earlier the rate was 2.8%. In June, highest annual rates were in Ireland (4.5%), the Netherlands (3.9%) and Greece (3.6%); lowest rates were in the United Kingdom (0.6%), Germany (0.7%) and Belgium (0.8%).

[Background paper STAT/02/84]

Employment in the EU in 2000: Temporary work in the EU: 15% of women and 13% of men employees; More than half of temporary workers are under 30

In 2000 in the EU, 14.5% of women employees and 12.5% of men had temporary jobs. With 34.6% of women and 30.7% of men employees on a fixed-term contract, temporary working was most common in Spain, followed by Portugal (22.7% of women and 18.4% of men) and Finland (20.9% and 14.5%). On the other hand, in Luxembourg only 4.4% of women and 2.7% of men had temporary jobs and in Ireland 5.9% and 3.6% respectively.

The proportion of women employees in temporary jobs was higher in all EU Member States: the gap with men was largest in Finland (women: 20.9%, men: 14.5%), the Netherlands (17.1% and 11.3%) and Belgium (12.1% and 6.6%), and lowest in Germany (13.1% and 12.5%) and Austria (8.4% and 7.6%).

[Background paper STAT/02/86]

Enlargement news

Margot Wallström at Informal Environment Council in Sonderborg, Denmark

European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström participated in the Informal Environment Council in Sonderborg, Denmark last weekend. Preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development were at the centre of the discussions. Mrs Wallström insisted on the importance of maintaining environment issues prominently on the agenda. The EUs key environmental objectives for Johannesburg include: (a) a 10-year programme for sustainable production and consumption; (b) a halt and then reversal of the decline in biodiversity; (c) action to deal with hazardous chemicals; (d) a clear target and timeframe for delivering clean drinking water and sanitation to the worlds poor; (e) a target and action to deliver increased use of renewable energy. Mrs Wallström commented: "The latest international high-level consultations have shown broad commitment to get preparations for the World Summit moving again. This is encouraging, and we must now keep up the momentum. Johannesburg is not only about environment, but the environmental agenda is a central component in our efforts to promote global sustainable development and move from words to deeds.” She added: "We must continue to push for clear targets and timeframes, to which politicians can be held accountable. And we will also need to reiterate our assurances on how we can best channel the means to achieve these objectives."

The Informal Council will explore in detail how the EU can work most efficiently in Johannesburg to meet its environmental goals.

Verheugen urges Poles to shape their own future

In a robust attack on what he perceived as misconceptions in Warsaw last week, European Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen rebutted many of the arguments repeatedly heard in Poland, and spelled out just how much Poland was already benefiting - and stood to benefit even further - from the accession process.

In agriculture, incomes will rise significantly as an immediate consequence of Poland's accession to the EU, he said. The biggest and most efficient farms will be integrated into the EU's agricultural policy from the start and will earn higher incomes straightaway. The many small and extremely small farms whose owners produce only for their own needs will for the very first time have a stable income, which will encourage them to take the restructuring measures they need and that are unavoidable, he said, "with or without the EU". Direct income support will make the change socially tolerable, he insisted.

He rejected suggestions that Polish farmers are treated worse than their counterparts in the EU. "On the contrary: the same conditions will apply to the organisation of markets from day one. Poland gets more money for rural development than the current member states. Polish farmers' direct income support will rise from 25% to 100% in the space of ten years. The average allocation to Polish farmers over that period will be 60% of the EU average. If you set this figure of 60% against the background of the significantly lower costs in Poland and the significantly higher purchasing power of the euro in Poland compared with, say, Denmark, Polish farmers are actually better off than their opposite numbers in today's European Union. That is the so-called unequal treatment."

Verheugen's reality check bypassed the more habitual diplomatic language of such occasions. "Does anyone think new generations of young Poles will put up with the wretched living conditions on the country's tiny farms?" he asked. And he went on to list the benefits that would flow from the EU's approach to agricultural assistance: new opportunities in the countryside, improved infrastructure, education and training, and job-creating investment.

To drive home his point, the Commissioner sketched in a scenario of the alternative - of Poland not joining the EU. "The foreseeable outcome would be a serious economic crisis, which - even if things went well - could be tackled with massive aid from outside, but only on conditions dictated from outside. But if things were to go badly, democracy would collapse along with the economy. What then would have been the point of struggling so long, so tenaciously and so courageously?"

He offered no blank-cheque guarantees of a successful outcome. Poland has to get one thing quite clear, he said: "Its integration into the EU is not a political favour, it is based on the country's performance. This means that where there are shortcomings Poland should work openly and energetically to overcome them. Poland owes this to itself and also to a strong Europe. And let me say in all frankness, there is still a lot to be done in Poland."

But in a bid to ease tensions over the upcoming final phase of negotiations, Verheugen reminded his audience in Poland that there is agreement between the EU and the candidate countries, including Poland, on a number of fundamental points in the final package: Agenda 2000 remains valid and an agreement must be reached within the ceiling of that financial framework; new member states should not enter as net contributors but should receive at least the same net amount as they were getting before accession; and both sides agree that it is full integration that is being negotiated, and not part-membership - which, he said, is recognised by both sides as meaning that transitional rules will be required for individual countries. "With sufficient flexibility and political pragmatism, reasonable solutions will be found," he concluded.

EU Presidency timetable for negotiations

The Danish Presidency envisages accession negotiations at deputy level (that is, candidates' chief negotiators and EU permanent representatives) on 29-30 July, and at ministerial level in the margins of the meetings of EU foreign ministers in the General Affairs and External Relations Councils in September, November - and for the final negotiations - December. And to ensure close contact with European Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister - in his role as President of the European Council - will take part in the special debate with the European Parliament and representatives of the candidate countries on 19 November, to provide the latest information on the final phase of the negotiations.

See the Presidency web site at http://www.eu2002.dk/main/

Candidates talking to next Presidency, too

The next European Union Presidency - Greece - is already discussing its plans with the candidate countries too. Greek deputy foreign affairs minister Anastassios Giannitsis, who is in charge of EU affairs, held talks with Latvian foreign affairs minister Indulis Berzins when visiting Latvia on 1 July. They talked of negotiations on agriculture and the priorities of the Greek Presidency, which starts on 1 January 2003. Giannitsis said Greece supports concluding the accession negotiations with the candidate countries by the end of this year, and stressed that Greece supports "a balanced solution" on agricultural issues. He said he expects that during the Greek Presidency the Accession Treaty will be signed.

Convention opens to young ideas

The July session of the European Convention was billed as the final stage in the Convention's "listening phase". It had two key themes. First, the meeting marked the end of the week-long Youth Convention, with 210 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 coming together to debate the future of Europe. With a participant chosen by each of the Convention members - and Hana Sedlácková, from the Czech Republic as one of the four Commission choices - there was a strong participation from the candidate countries. The conclusions of the Youth Convention showed a desire for a vigorous and effective Union with strong institutions at the EU level. There was, however, one note of discord, when a group of 50 of the young participants posted a protest at what they considered to be the lack of real representativeness of the youth convention, and at the "old ideas" being circulated.

The rest of the session was given over to a discussion on foreign and security policy, and defence. Two new working groups will start work on these issues in September, alongside other new groups on justice and home affairs. A detailed debate illustrated a strong desire for the EU to play a stronger role in the world; but different attitudes towards how to make this a reality. Some candidate country representatives like Alojz Peterle and Juraj Migaš backed moves to bring foreign policy formulation under traditional EU decision-making, but others like Danuta Hübner looked towards a mix of inter-governmental and community styles. The same themes emerged on the subject of defence, but there was also much interest in more co-ordination for the arms industry. The Convention now takes a break until September, but many of the Working Groups will be meeting in the meantime.

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