The Week in Europe 01-07/10/01

EU news in brief

Making a success of EU enlargement

Günter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enlargement, in his speech on 30 September during the Congress of the Labour Party in Brighton said: ”Ultimately, our goal is for the Union to become economically and politically strong enough to offer all its members peace and security, high social standards, cultural diversity and a high quality of the environment. This is our vision of the enlarged Union. It would be wrong to speculate at this stage on which countries will join first and when. What I can say is that out of the 12 countries, we are negotiating with, 10 are aiming to finish negotiating by the end of 2002. I am favouring flexible negotiation arrangements which do not overburden the young societies. Wherever possible we should help the candidate countries instead of putting additional substantial budget burdens on them. This will allow them to better respond to the challenge of creating socially-inclusive democratic societies by their own means. I firmly believe that this is important for the enlarged EU.” [Full text of speech SPEECH/01/423]

Economic confidence stays steady in September

The economic sentiment indicator remained unchanged in September in both the EU and the euro area following a drop by 0.8 points in the EU, and by 0.4 points in August. This is the first time that the Commission is publishing the revised Economic Sentiment Indicator (see explanatory note). However, it should be underlined that the business and consumer surveys are conducted in the first fortnight of each month. Therefore, a very high percentage and in some countries even the totality of the responses were received before September 11. Only next month, when the October results are published, will it be possible to assess the effect of the terrorist attacks on the opinions of consumers and managers. The industrial confidence indicator went down in September by 2 points in the EU and by 1 point in the euro area. Consumer confidence remained steady in the EU, this is the lowest level since August 1997. The construction confidence indicator increased in September by 3 points in both the EU and the euro area. The retail trade confidence indicator is now one of the components of the economic sentiment indicator with a 20% weight. In the service sector there were slight declines with a one point cutback in both the EU and the euro area. For the full information please contact :

http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/document/eesuppb/firstresults.htm

EU steps up fight against financing of international terrorism

The European Commission proposes that Member States freeze all funds held by 27 organisations and individuals suspected of supporting and financing terrorist activities. The proposed Council regulation is a binding legal instrument that would apply to the holding and transfer of funds within the European Union.

Romano Prodi, President of the Commission, said: "This is one of a series of measures taken promptly by the Commission in response to the dreadful attacks on the USA on 11 September. The European Union is united in its resolve and the Commission will continue to ensure that the European response remains comprehensive and coherent. There must be nowhere to hide in Europe." [Background paper IP/01/1349]

The future direction of EU consumer policy: Commission stirs up public debate

The European Commission adopted a Green Paper on fair trading practices, addressing the key issues of consumer protection. The Green Paper aims to stimulate a wide debate on options to improve the functioning of the business-to-consumer (B2C) Internal Market. It sets out two main strategic options for the future development of EU regulation of B2C commercial practices. The first option is a strategy based on further harmonisation addressing specific issues and to continue the approach of the last two decades. The second option is based on complementing specific legislative measures with a framework directive covering B2C commercial practices. The paper also seeks views on priority areas for harmonisation and on the various options for a possible framework directive. In edition, it equally sets out options for ensuring and improving enforcement of consumer protection rules. The Green Paper is available on the Internet http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/fair_comm_pract/fair_comm_pract_index_en.html

[Background paper IP/01/1354]

Internal Market: Commission proposes Regulation to remove restrictions on sales promotions

The European Commission has proposed a Council and European Parliament Regulation to remove restrictions on sales promotions within the Internal Market that have been identified by the Commission. It will remove barriers to cross-border sales promotions erected through national provisions on discounts, premiums, free gifts, promotional contests and promotional games and replace them with transparency and information requirements to allow for free movement. Since these promotional tools are used by all companies (particularly SMEs), the proposed Regulation represents a key instrument to facilitate commercial communication across borders within the Union. There is an urgent need for a common set of ground rules for these price related promotional instruments due to both the introduction of the euro and the implemention of the e-commerce Directive into national laws in January 2002. The full text of the proposal will be available on the Europa Website:

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market (look under What's New)

[Background paper IP/01/1351]

Trans-European network: the Commission wants to concentrate its efforts on bottlenecks and a limited number of major projects

Following in the slipstream of the new White Paper on transport, the European Commission is proposing to concentrate investment on infrastructure projects for the trans-European transport network in an attempt to reduce bottlenecks and curb congestion. The Commission is also proposing to update the list of priority projects and to raise the minimum level of Community financing for a number of critical railway projects and for cross-border projects in future accession countries. "The aim of this revision of the Community guidelines for the trans-European network is to unblock the main arteries and eliminate bottlenecks which are choking the network in many vital areas for the economy and our day-to-day lives," said Mrs Loyola de Palacio, Commission Vice-President responsible for energy and transport. "This revision is central to implementing the White Paper," she added. More information can be obtained on the Internet at the following address:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/themes/network/english/ten-t-en.html

[Background paper IP/01/1357]

Commission decides to give EURO 23 million to help the return of refugees in Croatia

The Commission has approved a programme for €23.2 million for the return of refugees and displaced people in Croatia. These funds are the latest of an overall contribution by the Commission of more than EUR80 million to the refugee return process in the country. The money announced should allow 5,000 people to return to their pre-war homes, as well as stimulating economic activity in the areas of return.

[Background paper IP/01/1360]

Anna Diamantopoulou wants concrete results from European Year of People with Disabilities 2003

Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner in charge of employment and social affairs, will tell the Council next Monday 8 October in Luxembourg that they should rapidly adopt the Commission proposal to make 2003 the European Year of People with Disabilities. The year-long campaign, for which the Commission has proposed a budget of euro 12 million, will seek support from political and business leaders and personalities from the world of entertainment and sport. As many as 10,000 events to promote the year are expected to be organised at European, national, regional and local levels. Mrs Diamantopoulou said : "The main purpose of the year is to drive forward the political agenda for full integration of people with disabilities which we set out last year in our policy paper 'Towards a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities'". Mrs Diamantopoulou will also see at first hand the latest assistive technology for the disabled on Friday 5 October at the Düsseldorf 'RehaCare' International Fair, the largest exhibition of its kind in the world. At the fair, she will speak at a conference on the theme 'rehabilitation comes before longterm healthcare dependency'. Mrs Diamantopoulou stated : "It is astonishing that, in 2001, we still do not have a single market in assistive technologies for people with disabilities. Some national social security systems apply discriminatory rules in favour of national suppliers for reimbursement of equipment such as wheelchairs. This makes equipment needlessly expensive for the disabled. We will fight this practice wherever we identify it."

EU to accelerate preparatory work on Russia's Accession to WTO following EU-Russia Summit

At the EU-Russia summit held this morning in Brussels, the European Commission agreed to accelerate preparatory work on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The Commission has agreed to present a comprehensive list of its requests to Russia covering all areas to be negotiated before the end of this year in order that the WTO's working party can reconvene its work in Geneva in early 2002. Following the summit, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said "As Russia's main trading partner, the EU strongly supports Russia's goal of joining the WTO. Consequently, we have decided to give fresh impetus to this process by committing ourselves to preparing an across-the -board list of our requests to give to Russia at the latest by the end of this year. We have been assured by the US that they will do likewise. As a result, work on Russia's WTO accession in Geneva will be receive fresh impetus early next year."

[Background paper IP/01/1362]

EU support for building confidence in fYROM

The Commission has adopted on 3 October 2001 a decision to finance a Confidence Building Programme for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under its Rapid Reaction Mechanism. The main objective of this programme, for which the budget is €10.3 million, is to provide rapid support for the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement of August 13, 2001 signed by the main political leaders of the Government coalition. It is very important to assist now in implementing the Agreement in order to reduce inter-ethnic tensions and to avoid escalation of the conflict or even spill-over to neighbouring countries. This package will be conditional upon full ratification of all constitutional amendments and a new law on local government. [Background paper IP/01/1368]

Commission allocates EURO 5 million in emergency aid for the Palestinian Territories

The European Commission is providing a further €5 million in humanitarian assistance for the victims of the ongoing crisis in the West Bank and Gaza. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and 14,000 injured since the fighting erupted in September 2000. In addition, the economic and social situation has grown progressively worse leading to a rapid deterioration in daily living conditions for much of the population. The aid will be channelled through the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson. [Background paper IP/01/1368]

Eurostat news releases

Euro-zone unemployment unchanged at 8.3% ; EU15 stable at 7.6%

Euro-zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment was unchanged at 8.3% in August 2001 compared to July, Eurostat reports. It was 8.7% in August 2000. The EU15 unemployment rate was 7.6% in August unchanged compared to July. It was 8.1% in August 2000. Lowest rates were registered in the Netherlands (2.2% in July), Luxembourg (2.5%), Ireland (3.8%), Austria (3.9%), Denmark (4.3%) and Portugal (4.4%). Spain's 13.0% remained the EU's highest rate. In the last twelve months, the most important relative falls were recorded in the Netherlands (from 2.9% in July 2000 to 2.2% in July 2001), Sweden (from 5.8% to 4.7%), Italy (from 10.4% in July 2000 to 9.4% in July 2001) and France (from 9.3% to 8.5%).

[Background paper 101/2001]

Industrial producer prices down 0.1% in euro-zone and in EU15

The euro-zone industrial producer price index fell by 0.1% in August 2001 compared with the previous month, Eurostat - Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg - estimates. EU15 prices also decreased by 0.1%. In July the index dropped by 0.5% in both areas. In August 2001 compared to August 2000 industrial producer prices rose by 1.7% in the euro-zone and by 1.6% in the EU15, confirming the slowdown of price increases observed since October 2000. [Background paper 102/2001]

Volume of retail trade up by 1.3% in euro-zone; EU15 up by 2.3%

In July 2001, as compared to July 2000, the volume of retail trade gained 1.3% in the euro-zone and 2.3% in the EU15, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg, estimates. Compared to June 2001, sales increased by 0.3% in the euro-zone and by 1.3% in the EU15. [Background paper 103/2001]

Second quarter 01 compared to second quarter 00; Euro-zone labour costs up by 2.7%; EU15 up by 3.1%

Total hourly labour costs in the whole economy of the euro-zone grew by 2.7% in nominal terms in the second quarter of 2001 compared to the same period the previous year, Eurostat - Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg - reports. In the first quarter of 2001 the increase was a revised 3.1%. For the EU15 the rise was 3.1%, compared to a revised 3.6% in the previous quarter. [Background paper 104/2001]

Enlargement news

Making a success of EU enlargement

Günter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enlargement, in his speech on 30 September during the Congress of the Labour Party in Brighton said: ”Ultimately, our goal is for the Union to become economically and politically strong enough to offer all its members peace and security, high social standards, cultural diversity and a high quality of the environment. This is our vision of the enlarged Union. It would be wrong to speculate at this stage on which countries will join first and when. What I can say is that out of the 12 countries, we are negotiating with, 10 are aiming to finish negotiating by the end of 2002. I am favouring flexible negotiation arrangements which do not overburden the young societies. Wherever possible we should help the candidate countries instead of putting additional substantial budget burdens on them. This will allow them to better respond to the challenge of creating socially-inclusive democratic societies by their own means. I firmly believe that this is important for the enlarged EU.” [Full text of speech SPEECH/01/423]

Commission welcomes progress of accession negotiations since adoption of the 'road map'

Endorsed by the European Council of Nice in December 2000 and implemented since, the 'road map', which outlines the timetable for the remaining accession negotiations, has proved to be successful. It has given the negotiations a new momentum by allowing substantial progress on several, often difficult issues including the environment, free movement of persons or free movement of capital. It sent a clear signal to the applicant countries that their efforts are worthwhile. The progress made allowed the European Union, at its summit in Göteborg in June, to set the objective of the participation of candidate countries in the European elections of 2004 as members of the EU. The special meeting of the European Council in Gent, on 19 October 2001, provides for an opportunity to review the implementation of the roadmap during the first half of its duration. For that purpose, the European Commission, at the initiative of Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen, adopted a "mid-term review of the implementation of the enlargement strategy" which examines the progress made in the accession negotiations for the chapters covered by the roadmap in 2001. [Background paper IP/01/1356]

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