The Week in Europe 22-28/01/03

30.01.2003 | Euroskop

The Week in Europe 22-28/01/03

EU news in brief

European Commission urges focus on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

The Commission adopted a package of documents outlining EU policy towards small and medium-sized enterprises, which provides a snapshot of recent progress in small business policy across Europe and points to possible further policy actions. A key finding is that EU Member States and candidate countries need to focus on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) more often in their rule and policy making: consultation of small businesses remains low in both policy and law-making. Europe therefore urgently needs to give small businesses the opportunity to voice their views. However, the documents also stress that substantial progress has been made in key areas such as education for entrepreneurship and simplification of administrative procedures, both in candidate countries, who are facing up the challenge of building an entrepreneurial culture and in Member States. To help develop a more stable and creative enterprise sector in candidate countries, the financial sector is encouraged to take a closer look at SME lending as a source of opportunities, rather than just risks. The Commission has recently taken several initiatives to support SMEs. In this context, the recently nominated SME Envoy has a crucial role in ensuring a more co-ordinated approach on SME issues. For further information:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/SME-package/index.htm

[Background paper IP/03/98]

Customs: Commission welcomes Council adoption of Regulation suspending duties on weapons and military equipment

The European Commission has welcomed the adoption without discussion by the EU's Council of Ministers on 21st January of a Regulation suspending import duties on certain weapons and military equipment. The Regulation, based on a Commission proposal dating from 1988, acknowledges that the security interests of the EU as well as the demands of international military co-operation justify such a suspension of customs duties to assist Member States' defence authorities in procuring the best military materials available world-wide. The suspensions apply to a whole range of weapons and military equipment as well as to parts and components for incorporation or fitting into the listed goods and to goods for use in training or testing of the listed goods. The suspension applies only where the products are imported by or on behalf of the military defence authorities of a Member State. Private companies in the EU will be able to produce the relevant military products out of materials imported duty-free, once the companies supply the final products to Member States' defence authorities. Special import procedures included in the text are designed to protect military secrecy. The Regulation applies from 1 January 2003. The text of the Regulation is available on the Europa internet site:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/whatsnew.htm

[Background paper IP/03/103]

"Invisible citizens" : Anna Diamantopoulou at the opening of the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003

Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, will on Sunday 26 January speak at the launch of the European Year of People with Disabilites 2003 in Athens. The event, organised jointly by the Greek Presidency and the Commission, will serve to focus attention on the Year and on the lasting progress which it must bring after the Year for the 37 million disabled people in the EU. The Year is the most ambitious political drive for equal rights for disabled people ever mounted in Europe.

[Background paper IP/03/106]

Telecommunications: European Regulators' Group meets to prepare for New EU Telecoms Legislation

The European Regulators Group (ERG) held its second meeting on 23 January 2003 in Amsterdam. The Chairman in particular welcomed representatives from the Candidate Countries entering the EU in 2004, who were present for the first time. The ERG, set up by the new regulatory framework for electronic communications network and services, constitutes the interface between National Regulatory Authorities and the European Commission in this field. It will contribute to the development of the internal market and the consistent application of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services in all Member States. The ERG Work Programme will be made available on http://irgis.icp.pt. A website for ERG will be available as from 1 February 2003 (http://erg.eu.int).

[Background paper IP/03/119]

Commission organises "Broadband Day" in Brussels to promote the availability of Broadband in Europe

European Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen will host a Broadband Day on January 28th 2003 in Brussels to promote the widespread availability and use of broadband Internet access in Europe. This workshop will bring together high level officials responsible for broadband policy in the Member States, to exchange experiences and thereby stimulate the design of national strategies to ensure widespread availability of broadband throughout the EU. The Broadband Day will contribute to reviews underway in several Member States. Representatives of the private sector will be invited to the afternoon session to discuss obstacles to broadband deployment perceived by market players.

[Background paper IP/03/121]

Brighter eyesight or brighter salmon? Commission decides new rules on colouring feed additive

Canthaxanthin is a pigment used as a feed additive to colour food, particularly adding a reddish colour to salmon, egg yolks and poultry products. Following scientific assessments establishing a link between high canthaxanthin intake and eyesight problems, the Commission adopted a Directive to reduce the authorised level of canthaxanthin in animal feed. This Directive was agreed recently by the Member States in a vote in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.

[Background paper IP/03/123]

'Your Voice in Europe': new Commission portal aims to give citizens a bigger role in policy making

The European Commission has created a new web portal to make it easier for European citizens to make their voices heard in EU policy making. The new 'Your Voice in Europe' portal http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice replaces the previous version of the site with a one-stop shop in all eleven EU languages allowing citizens, businesses and all other stakeholders to tell the Commission what they think about new policy initiatives. The results of consultations will be available through the portal as soon as they are closed, so that as well as giving their own opinions, users of the site will be able to see what others have said and subsequently see how the Commission has taken this into account when new policy proposals are published. This will contribute to more transparency and accountability in the EU's policy-making process. The development of a single access point for public consultations is part of the implementation of the 'General principles and minimum standards for consultation' (IP/02/1865) recently adopted by the Commission.

[Background paper IP/03/122]

Eurostat news releases

December 2002 Euro-zone annual inflation up to 2.3%; EU15 up to 2.2%

Euro-zone annual inflation rose from 2.2% in November 2002 to 2.3% in December 2002, a year earlier the rate was 2.0%. EU15 annual inflation was up from 2.1% in November to 2.2% in December 2002. A year earlier the rate was 1.9%. EEA annual inflation was 2.2% in December 2002. In December, the highest annual rates were recorded in Ireland (4.6%), Spain and Portugal (both 4.0%); the lowest rates were observed in Germany (1.1%), Belgium (1.3%), Austria, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (1.7% each). Compared with November 2002, annual inflation rose in nine Member States, fell in four and remained stable in two.

Compared with December 2001, the biggest relative falls were in Sweden (3.2% to 1.7%), Belgium (2.0% to 1.3%) and the Netherlands (5.1% to 3.5%) and the biggest relative rises were in Luxembourg (0.9% to 2.8%), in the United Kingdom (1.0% to 1.7%) and in Spain (2.5% to 4.0%). Lowest 12-month averages up to December 2002 were in Germany and the United Kingdom (both 1.3%) and in Belgium (1.6%); highest were in Ireland (4.7%), Greece and the Netherlands (both 3.9%).

[Background paper STAT/03/9]

Enlargement news

The cost of enlargement discussed in Parliament

"We're getting enlargement cheaper than we thought we would", European Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen told the European Parliament foreign affairs committee on January 23. He confirmed that the final deal agreed at Copenhagen was €1.7 billion less than the maximum ceiling fixed by Berlin for commitments in 2004-2006, and €9.4 billion less than the maximum available payments. And of the €25.1 billion in payments for the period, €14.8 billion would be covered by new member states' contributions, so the net cost for the EU15 would be €10.3 billion, he said.

So that the Parliament can make its assessment of the deal reached at the Copenhagen summit, the English-language version of the Accession Treaty will be available by the end of January or early February, and the Commission will also present a paper summarising the agreements reached on each chapter for each acceding country, promised Verheugen. On February 19 the Commission will formally approve the Treaty, and during the month it will also propose adjustment of the financial perspectives to take account of the results of Copenhagen and to modify pre-accession aid to boost it for Bulgaria and Romania and Turkey from 2004. He said he would return to the Parliament's foreign affairs committee on March 17, just before the March 19 committee vote on the Accession Treaty. The Parliament plans to its vote on the Treaty at the April 8-9 session.

Meanwhile, there is still plenty of work to do in the acceding states in terms of finalising reforms, he insisted, and the Commission's first monitoring report of this ongoing process, due in November 2003, would be a help to candidate countries' parliaments to keep up the pressure on the government for reform, he said. As to the upcoming referendums in most of the acceding candidate countries, he said prospects were generally good: the problem was more about the level of turnout than the outcome of the vote itself, he suggested.:

Final environmental ministerial for candidates

"Reviews of administrative capacity to implement EU environmental legislation have pointed to a number of weaknesses at regional and local level in many countries", according to the agreed conclusions at the end of the informal ministerial meeting between European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström and the ministers of the environment of the candidate countries in Brussels on 21 January.

"As part of the efforts to strengthen overall administrative structures for environmental management in the new Member States the development of regional and local environmental administrations in the period to May 2004 and beyond is a priority", ministers agreed. They committed themselves to exchange experience on implementation - both positive and negative.

Access to EU financial assistance for investments is going to be dependent on the completion of preparatory steps, such as waste management plans, the ministers formally recognised. They agreed that the priority of the Structural and Cohesion Fund allocation for the environment should focus on investments in environmental infrastructures, and especially urban wastewater treatment, waste management, air pollution reduction and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control. They also endorsed the Commission's urging of priority for projects aimed at honouring the commitments made during the accession negotiations.

Meeting the EU environmental acquis is going to require expenditure of up to €100 billion by the ten new member states, said Commissioner Wallström. The Commission estimates that for full implementation of EU legislation, investments 2-3% of GDP will be needed.

This series of annual ministerial meetings - which has been underway since 1995 - is now to end in its present form, in the light of the impending enlargement. But the dialogue will continue with Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Is enlargement trampling nature underfoot?

Enlargement may be doing no favours for nature, according to the World Wildlife Fund. It says that new member states may not be doing what they should to extend the European "Natura 2000" network of protection areas.

A report compiled by WWF says potential Natura 2000 sites are threatened in all candidate countries. In Lithuania the threat comes from conventional timber logging. In Latvia and Estonia, the multiplication of small hydropower stations will disturb river basin management and threaten protected species and important habitats. In Slovakia and the Czech Republic, projects related to the development of the planned Danube-Oder-Elbe canal and the construction of two bridges at Hohenau-Moravsky Jan and at Marchegg threaten the Morava River floodplains.

In Poland the planned construction of the Via Baltica motorway will adversely affect the Biebrza National Park. And plans to build the Danube-Odra-Elbe canal and a cascade of dams along the Oder have serious implications for a score of potential Natura 2000 sites on the Polish and Czech sides of the river.

The report also says that EU funding is behind some of the projects that will jeopardise nature preservation. It cites the Struma motorway project, part of the Trans-European Transport Corridor IV through the Kresna Gorge in Bulgaria; the M3 Motorway project via the Szatmar-Bereg landscape protection area in Hungary; the D8 motorway that is being built across the Czech Middle Mountains, and for which plans exit for extension with EU support across the Giant Mountains to Saxony; the Wloclawek dam along the Vistula river in Poland; the construction of inland waterway ports and bridges along the Morava river in Slovakia; and a proposed bridge across the potential Väinameri Natura 2000 site in Estonia.

WWF says that if EU policy on nature preservation is complied with, enlargement should add more than 180,000 square kilometres of designated nature parks to the EU, "including many of the most valuable areas in Europe". Making Natura 2000 work in the new member states "is a new challenge," says Sandra Jen, WWF Biodiversity Officer. "The countries that are now preparing to join the EU have many of the last great wilderness areas, cultural landscapes, and near-pristine river systems remaining on the European continent - natural wealth that will greatly enrich the EU and that needs urgent protection." For details see :

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/other_news.cfm?uNewsID=5441

Greek programme for enlargement

The enlargement programme for the Greek Presidency of the European Union will be reviewed by foreign affairs ministers at the General Affairs Council in Brussels on January 28. The Presidency says it is going to be "consolidating the results achieved" so far. This means finalising the Accession Treaty, reinforcing the monitoring of compliance with the acquis by candidate countries, and assuring a "smooth transition" as candidate countries start to participate in EU business as active observers, once the Accession Treaty is signed in April. For Bulgaria and Romania, it will hold negotiations at chief negotiator level on April 7 and June 2, and a ministerial-level session in the margins of the General Affairs and External Relations Council on June 24. Justice and home affairs will be a particular focus of the work. And efforts will be made to "bring forward the EU perspective for Turkey", with a focus on legislative scrutiny, deepening of customs union, and reinforcement of co-operation in justice and home affairs. The programme also includes intensified co-operation with the countries of the western Balkans "to promote their fullest possible integration into the political and economic mainstream of Europe, in view of the status of these countries as potential candidates for EU membership".

Small Polish farmers still alarmed

"Agriculture stands at the centre of negotiations, yet neither the Polish government nor Brussels have come up with any sort of constructive plan for the future of the Polish countryside", says the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside. "On the contrary, they seem intent on destroying the exceptional biodiversity and cultural wealth of its one and a half million small family farms, through a programme of 'restructuring' agriculture to fit the standard, large scale, monotonous, monocultural model which has already devastated farmland and farming communities across the continent of Europe. Neither has anything yet emerged out of the EU/CAP package that offers realistic support for Poland's struggling rural economy", says the coalition.

ICPPC says it is "increasingly evident" that the "health of the Polish countryside is inseparable from the future of its small family farms". 68% of the 2.1 million farms in Poland are small family farms (with less than 8 hectares of land), "but most of these farmers are unaware of the dangers now facing them" - including, says ICPPC, "the health and environmental consequences of using toxic chemicals and GMO seeds which are now being heavily promoted in Poland, and the ever more oppressive food and hygiene regulations pouring out of Brussels."

"How and why we need to protect the small family farms in Poland and how their survival can set a precedent for European small farms" is the theme of the special meeting being organised by ICPPC in London on February 7. It is urging that the best way for these farms to survive is by "maintaining their traditional roots, and moving towards organic agriculture, greater farmer to farmer and consumer co-operation, local processing, ecotourism and other ecological activities". This will help keep people living in the countryside and prevent waves of unemployment and migration to "already overcrowded" cities.