2 Weeks in Europe 16/12/02 - 6/01/03

13.01.2003 | Euroskop

2 Weeks in Europe 16/12/02 - 6/01/03

EU news in brief

Results of Flash Eurobarometer survey on awareness of the general public of Union citizenship and related rights

DG Justice and Home Affairs has carried out a Flash Eurobarometer survey concerning awareness of the general public of Union citizenship and related rights. The survey also included a question on awareness of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The results of the survey are somewhat contradictory: general public was quite familiar with most of the rights of Union citizens, but the term itself was not well recognised, even if the majority has heard about it. At Union level, the majority, about 70% of those interviewed, has heard about term 'Union citizenship'. More specifically, about 1/3 knows what Union citizenship means, 1/3 has heard about it but is not sure about the meaning and 1/3 has never heard the term Union citizenship. The Member States in which Union citizenship is most familiar are Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg and Ireland, where about 80% is familiar with the term. The Luxembourgers know the exact meaning best with 55%. Union citizenship is the least known in Belgium, Sweden, Greece and UK, where more than 40% of people interviewed had never heard about it. In these Member States also the group who knew the exact meaning was the smallest, about 20%. This means that in many Member States the term Union citizenship is seen as a vague and abstract concept. The awareness of general public of the Charter was even lower: only 43% have heard about it and even less, only 8% know what it is.

Pensions: first Commission evaluation of national strategies for adequate and sustainable pensions

The Commission adopted, for the first time, a comprehensive EU-level analysis of national pension systems and their ability to face the challenge of demographic ageing. This review of pensions strategies in the Member States, which takes the form of a draft joint report of the Commission and of the Council, shows that all EU countries have, to a greater or lesser degree, launched reforms whose aim is to ensure adequate incomes to older people in the future without jeopardising sound public finances and without overburdening future generations. However, the Commission concludes that most Member States still have to make further reform efforts in order to guarantee adequate and sustainable pensions in an ageing society. Once adopted jointly by the Commission and Council, the draft report adopted will go forward to the 2003 Spring summit of EU leaders in Brussels. Faced with the baby-boom generation reaching retirement age within the next 10-15 years, low birth rates during the past decades and continuing progress in terms of life expectancy, the ratio of people over 65 to people of working age will double between now and the year 2050. In most Member States, pensions expenditure is expected to rise significantly from about 2015 onwards, giving rise to concern about the capacity of future pensions to ensure decent living standards for the retired and financial sustainability of pension systems. In addition, Member States will have to ensure that their pension systems respond to the changing societal needs, such as increasing labour market participation of women and the growing share of part-time, self-employed and temporary workers. Faced with these challenges, all Member States agreed in 2001 on 11 common EU objectives designed to secure the future of their pension systems and also agreed to cooperate in accordance with the open method of coordination. For 'frequently asked questions' on pension reform, see MEMO/02/298. For the full report and the national strategy reports, see

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2002/dec/joint_pensions_report_en.html

[Background paper IP/02/1897]

The reception of asylum seekers in Member States

On the initiative of the European Commission and in particular of António Vitorino, the Commissioner responsible for Justice and Home Affairs, the Council has adopted a Directive concerning minimum standards on the reception of asylum seekers in Member States. Thanks to the efforts of the Belgian, Spanish (which made it its priority in the area of asylum) and Danish Presidencies, the Directive on the reception conditions for asylum seekers has been approved in a relatively short period of time. The Council has watered down the original Commission's proposal on some important issues: Family members; Freedom of movement; Employment and Vocational training; Quality and availability of reception conditions. This Directive can be considered as a useful tool in order to reach the two main aims set by the original Commission's proposal: Setting out the minimum standards of reception conditions for asylum seekers which should be normally sufficient to ensure them a dignified standard of living and comparable living conditions in all Member States; and Limiting secondary movements of asylum seekers influenced solely by the diversity of the applicable rules on reception conditions, avoiding, therefore, asylum shopping.

[Background paper MEMO/02/300]

Internal Market: EU needs to step up economic reform to reach its competitiveness objectives

The European Commission's latest report on the functioning of product and capital markets provides additional evidence that the Internal Market has delivered significant benefits for Europeans, not least lower prices for many consumer products. But there is still much untapped potential for gains in several areas of the economy, especially services (in particular financial services) and public procurement. The EU can still meet the objective set by the Lisbon European Council in 2000 of becoming the most competitive economy in the world by 2010. But there must be no further delays to the adoption of legislative proposals and Member States must significantly improve their performance in implementing EU law on time. Simpler and better regulation at all levels is also required. The report warns that unless the EU delivers further rapid economic reform the US economy may outperform the European economy during the downturn just as it did during the late 1990s expansion. For a more detailed summary of the report, see MEMO/02/303. Full details of the report and statistical tables will be available on the Europa website:

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/update/economicreform/index.htm

Eurostat News Releases

November 2002: Euro-zone annual inflation down to 2.2%; EU15 stable at 2.1%

Euro-zone annual inflation fell from 2.3% in October 2002 to 2.2% in November 2002, Eurostat reports. A year earlier the rate was 2.1%. EU15 annual inflation remained stable at 2.1% between October and November 2002. A year earlier the rate was 1.8%. In November, the highest annual rates were recorded in Ireland (4.7%), Portugal (4.1%), Spain and Greece (both 3.9%); the lowest rates were observed in Germany (1.0%), Belgium (1.1%) and Sweden (1.4%).

[Background paper STAT/02/150]

Enlargement news

The new chapter opens for Europe

"With the decisions in Copenhagen, we closed one of the darkest and most blood-stained chapters of European history. We closed a century ravaged by war and conflict. We bid a final farewell to the Europe of the Yalta Conference and the Cold War", said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen when he addressed the European Parliament after chairing the Copenhagen summit. "At the same time, we opened the door to a new era of European history. An era blessed by freedom, peace, growth and prosperity. The Copenhagen Summit marked a pinnacle in the history of European co-operation, a triumph for freedom and democracy, and a gate to a better future for all our peoples."

But he admitted that the negotiations were intense and difficult until the very end - often on very specific issues, like milk quotas and money transfers. "It had to be so", he said. "This ensured that we finished with the right balance between the wishes of the candidate countries and what the present member states considered feasible." The same point was made by European Commission President Romano Prodi during the European Parliament debate: "Some people might have the impression that the conclusion of the accession negotiations at Copenhagen was a formality that the deal was in the bag. Nothing could be further from the truth," said Prodi. "Political courage and strong leadership was required on all sides to get this result," he insisted.

On Turkey, Rasmussen said: "We arrived at a balanced and realistic response." A "strong and positive message has been sent to Turkey. However, the initiation of accession negotiations remains unconditionally subject to the fulfilment of the political Copenhagen Criteria. This is the way it must be. Turkey must be treated on an equal basis with all other candidate countries." Prodi added that "this date will give Turkey time to push ahead with the reforms it must make to satisfy the Copenhagen criteria and implement them both in law and in practice. The Commission will report on its progress and make recommendations with complete objectivity and impartiality."

And on Cyprus, there is also "a realistic possibility that the parties will be able to find an overall solution to the Cyprus problem before 28 February 2003 on the basis of the proposal put forward by the UN Secretary General", said Rasmussen. "We came close to getting agreement on a settlement for Cyprus. Although the unflagging efforts of the negotiators and the UN Secretary-General were not crowned with success at the Summit, the two sides' willingness to continue negotiating with the aim of getting agreement by 28 February gives us real grounds for optimism," said the Commission President.

"One Europe" declaration

Agreement was reached at the Copenhagen summit on a declaration about "One Europe" which will be annexed to the Accession Treaty. The text, to appear above the signatures of the 15 current EU member states and the ten new member states, reads: "Today is a great moment for Europe. We have today concluded accession negotiations between the European Union and Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. 75 million people will be welcomed as new citizens of the European Union.

"We, the current and acceding member states, declare our full support for the continuous, inclusive and irreversible enlargement process. The accession negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania will continue on the basis of the same principles that have guided the negotiations so far. The results already achieved in these negotiations will not be brought into question. Depending on further progress in complying with the membership criteria, the objective is to welcome Bulgaria and Romania as new members of the European Union in 2007. We also welcome the important decisions taken today concerning the next stage of Turkey's candidature for membership of the European Union.

"Our common wish is to make Europe a continent of democracy, freedom, peace and progress. The Union will remain determined to avoid new dividing lines in Europe and to promote stability and prosperity within and beyond the new borders of the Union. We are looking forward to working together in our joint endeavour to accomplish these goals. Our aim is One Europe."

"Fair and tailor-made agriculture package" for enlargement

The outcome of the Copenhagen summit was a "fair and tailor-made package which benefits farmers in accession countries", according to Franz Fischler, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. He said: "This a great day for Europe - for the EU, for the candidate countries and for their farmers. The leaders of the candidate countries can return home with their heads held high. They have achieved a farm package which is perfectly saleable to their farm community." The package is summarised as follows:

· A rural development package of € 5.1 billion for 2004-2006, specifically adapted to the requirements of the ten acceding countries, and more favourable than for the current EU member states; from accession, the EU will co-finance at up to 80% a wide range of rural development measures, such as early retirement of farmers, support for less favoured areas or areas with environmental restrictions, agri-environmental programmes, afforestation of agricultural land, and setting up of producer groups.

· Direct aids for farmers phased in over ten years (in line with the Commission's proposal from January 2002), starting with 25% of the full EU rate in 2004, 30% in 2005 and 35% in 2006. The decision in Copenhagen resulted in the possibility for this level to be augmented by "topping up payments" of up to 55% in 2004, 60% in 2005 and 65% in 2006, with rural development funds providing up to 40% in co-financing. From 2007, top-ups at 30% above the applicable phasing-in level in the relevant year will still be allowed, but financed entirely by national funds. Special provisions have been agreed for Cyprus and Slovenia, to take account of their specific internal support systems prior to accession. A simplified system will allow new member states to grant direct payments in the form of a de-coupled area payment applied to the whole agricultural area for the first three years of membership.

· Full and immediate access to Common Agricultural Policy market measures, such as export refunds, and cereal, skimmed milk powder or butter intervention, which will contribute to stabilising farmers' prices and incomes in the new member states.

A budget for enlargement

Michaele Schreyer, the Commissioner for the budget, told the European Parliament during its December 18 debate on the 2003 EU budget that this was a budget so prudent that the savings it made against the financial perspective is "greater than the additional expenditure which will be incurred in 2004 as a result of the accession of ten new member states".

Nonetheless, in line with the Copenhagen signal "to ensure that the process of enlargement will be smooth for our institutions", the budget allows, she pointed out, for 236 new posts in the Council, and 500 in the Commission. The money for this first batch of new posts needed for enlargement has been provided by bringing forward some administrative expenditure from 2003 to 2002, thus providing a cushion for the financing of new posts in 2003. Within the Commission, 59 posts are being allocated to competition, 53 to agriculture, 56 to the structural funds, 10 to OLAF, 69 to the language service and 60 to the Publications Office - all sectors where preparations are necessary to ensure EU rules are fully applicable from the date that new members accede.

The 2003 budget is the last budget for the Union of fifteen member states. The EU must now adapt the financial perspective to take account of the decisions taken in Copenhagen, and prepare the 2004 budget for the EU of 25 member states. In February the Commission, the Council and the Parliament will discuss the adjustments needed together in a trialogue - by which time, hoped Schreyer, "the situation will also be clearer regarding the future of Northern Cyprus". Pre-accession aid for Bulgaria and Romania is to be increased and Turkey is to be included in the budget for pre-accession aid, so the budget "reflects the dynamics of change in Europe", she said.

New thinking on new borders

"We shall obviously have to think long and hard about where the borders of the EU will ultimately lie," European Commission President Romano Prodi said when he addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 18 December. Looking beyond the current round of enlargement, he set out some thoughts on future policy.

"Each enlargement brings us new neighbours for which the EU is a pole of attraction. Some hope to become candidates themselves," he remarked. For some regions, this is a definite possibility: "The countries of the western Balkans rightly belong in the European Union in the long term. This prospect was confirmed by the Copenhagen Council," said Prodi. The Stabilisation and Association process for South East Europe "is a powerful instrument and we should be proactive in using it" he said, expressing confidence that - in collaboration with the incoming Greek Presidency - the EU will be able to offer at the Thessaloniki summit "a detailed and substantial response" to the letter that the five Presidents of the Western Balkans sent the EU on the eve of the Copenhagen Council, seeking confirmation of their future membership.

But the Commission President was more measured in his remarks on other regions and countries beyond the EU. "We need to build a strong network of relations based on shared political and economic values with neighbouring countries from Russia to the Mediterranean," he said, but this would not necessarily amount to the prospect of EU membership. Instead, he spoke of a "proximity policy". This, he suggested, "would bring our neighbours many of the benefits of membership without formally joining the Union in the next future". He offered the example of the European Economic Area, "with an enriched political content", as a useful model, "sharing everything but institutions".

The proximity policy must be "attractive, unlocking new prospects and bringing mutual benefits. It must motivate our partners to cooperate more closely with the EU and it must be dynamic, based on a structured, step-by-step approach", he said. And the concept of how the EU makes its links with its neighbours must spring from a genuinely European debate, he said: "This is something we as Europeans, after listening to everyone, shall decide ourselves, without any outside interference. The debate on where Europe's borders lie is actually a debate about our identity", he said. But he insisted that "this search for the roots of our identity does not mean creating new divisions. European integration will offer benefits and new prospects for our neighbours as well."

European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten also said as the Copenhagen summit closed that the EU "should not offer only membership", but find other ways of developing common economic and political links with its neighbours.

Now to analyse the consequences

The European Commission is to generate an independent high-level report on the consequences of enlargement, as part of the efforts to inform and accompany the debate next year as the Treaty is reviewed and ratified across the 25 countries involved. "Although a number of studies have been published in recent years, a comprehensive analysis, at the European level, is desirable to provide clear and authoritative answers to the many questions which are posed by the public," the Commission says. Wim Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, has agreed to chair the work, and will be assisted by experts from present and future member states and by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Florence. The report is expected by the end of March 2003.

The countdown starts to the referenda!

All the candidate countries that concluded negotiations in Copenhagen - except Cyprus - are now to hold referenda on EU accession. So far dates have been chosen by Hungary - on 12 April 2003, Slovakia - on 5-6 June, Poland - probably on 8 June, the Czech Republic - on 15-16 June, and Estonia - on 14 September. Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia have yet to name their dates.

European Economic and Social Committee aims at making enlargement work

Enlargement will be a twin challenge for the candidate countries, according to a new opinion adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee at its plenary session on December 17. They will need to adapt speedily to EU legislation whilst at the same time reforming their entire political, economic and social systems, says this opinion on the economic and social consequences of enlargement for candidate countries. It points to the tensions arising as new jobs are created in new sectors, while many are lost in traditional sectors. The EESC advocates an active policy for the labour market, improving infrastructure and a balanced approach to welfare, payments and salaries. The opinion also sets out recommendations to streamline bureaucracy, strengthen legal protection, boost foreign investment, reform agricultural policy, develop civil society and promote economic and social convergence.

And another EESC opinion adopted at the same time - on the impact of the enlargement of the European Union on the single market - argues that utilisation of the workforce will be a key factor in how well the enlarged single market brings economic advantages, strengthens EU competitiveness and exploits its full potential. It also insists that public acceptance of enlargement will be crucially influenced by the way the benefits are distributed throughout the population.

The new President of the European Economic and Social Committee, Roger Briesch, has also made a priority of adapting to EU enlargement in his programme for 2003. During his presidency, he pointed out, the EESC will have to absorb new members and officials from candidate countries, and this challenge must be tackled head-on by a thorough reform of the workings of the Committee.

Some candidates excel in innovation - some don't

The European Commission's just-published 2002 European Innovation Scoreboard contains for the first time the innovation performance of the candidate countries, as well as of the member states. Overall, it reveals that the EU is still trailing the US and Japan in innovation. But it notes that many candidate countries perform favourably on some of the benchmarks used in compiling the Scoreboard - notably the proportion of the working population with post-secondary education, employment in high-tech manufacturing, spending on information and communication technologies, and the level of inward foreign direct investment. Weaknesses identified in the candidate countries are in the relatively low rate of employment in high-tech services, private research and development investment, patenting, and the level of Internet access.

The innovation capacities are concentrated mainly where candidate countries have already developed explicit national innovation policies, notably Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Hungary, Lithuania and Malta are also among the innovation leaders in the group. The scoreboard also found that candidates still lack reliable innovation data - a weakness that has to be addressed by governments, as it is hindering effective policy decisions, says the Commission. European Commissioner for Enterprise Erkki Liikanen said: "Innovation has to be on the top of the agenda of an enlarging Union if the EU is to meet its goals of becoming more competitive."

"A difficult start" for outward investment by candidates

In most central and east European countries, outward foreign direct investment is at low level, according to a new study from UNCTAD on the impact of the European Union's enlargement. UNCTAD says outward FDI is hampered because there is only a slow development of "firm-specific ownership advantages, management skills and know-how necessary to undertake investments abroad and to run a foreign business venture successfully". Prior to transition, only Hungary had the commercial skills (including the proficiency and competence required for world-market operations and the management of foreign affiliates), and that was limited to a handful of state-owned trading companies. "No wonder outward FDI had a difficult start," says the study. But there has been some increase, notably in Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia - driven largely by a search to overcome the profit constraints of small domestic markets, and by the need to boost manufacturing.

See http://r0.unctad.org/en/subsites/dite/pdfs/CEE_outward_en.pdf

Still no guarantees for a "yes" vote

Since May, the support for EU accession among those that would vote in a referendum has not risen in some of the candidate countries, according to the latest poll by the Central European Opinion Research Group Foundation (CEORG). In Hungary the support fell by 9.2% to 75.1%, in Poland and the Czech Republic the changes were a small decrease, by 1.6% and 0.4% respectively. The Czech Republic remains the most sceptical and Hungary the most eager of the three as far as support for membership is concerned. In Hungary the least enthusiastic are those in the age group of 40-59 years (16.7% against EU membership) and those living in rural areas (20.9% against EU membership), while the most enthusiastic are inhabitants of the country's capital, Budapest. In the Czech Republic, the highest support for EU membership can be found among respondents with tertiary education (78.5%), and the most opponents are in the group with only primary education (43.2% would vote against EU membership). In Poland, inhabitants of rural area are the most eager opponents (27.5% against), while the highest support to EU membership is among the inhabitants of large cities (83.8% for) and people with tertiary education (83%).