The Week in Europe 24-30/06/02

08.07.2002 | Euroskop

EU news in brief

Mission accomplished, the Commission winds up humanitarian operations in Montenegro

The Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission (ECHO) is ending its activities in Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). "The humanitarian emergency has now ended in Montenegro. Thanks to the assistance provided by the Humanitarian Aid Office, displaced and refugee populations, as well as local people, have been able to confront and overcome enormous difficulties. ECHO has accomplished its mission and is now making way for other European Commission instruments to take over," declared Poul Nielson, the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. Between 1999 and 2001, Montenegro has benefited from €34.5 million in humanitarian aid spent in sectors such as health and rehabilitation. For further information: http://www.echomontenegro.org

[Background paper IP/02/911]

Commission outlines application of competition rules to steel and coal sectors in changeover from ECSC to EC Treaty

After the expiry, on 23 July 2002, of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty, these two sectors will be subject to the normal rules applicable to the rest of the economy except the nuclear field, which is still governed by the Euratom Treaty. In a Communication, the Commission outlines how the competition rules will apply to pending steel and coal cases during the changeover to the European Community (EC) Treaty rules, thereby providing economic operators and Member States with legal certainty.

[Background paper IP/02/925]

"EU citizens want safe food and healthy environment from farm policy", says Commission poll

A majority of Europeans want to see a change in the way the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) supports the EU farmers. According to the latest Eurobarometer opinion poll, more than 60% of EU citizens see a shift of farm subsidies from production to directly supporting farmers and the rural areas as "a very good" or "fairly good" thing. Support among those questioned for direct support to farmers was on average 62%, up 6% compared to the last Eurobarometer poll of mid-2001. The survey also shows that citizens want the EU farm policy to ensure that agricultural products are healthy and safe. According to the poll, for EU citizens the priority of the CAP should be to ensure that agricultural products are healthy and safe, promote the respect of the environment, protect medium or small sized farms and help farmers to adapt their production to consumer expectations. The full report, including results per Member State, is available on the website of the Directorate-General for Agriculture

http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/survey/index_en.htm

[Background paper IP/02/922]

EU launches bold WTO initiative to protect products with unique geographical indications, from Stilton cheese to Basmati rice

The European Union has launched a bold initiative to improve the protection of geographical indications, which are often associated with high-quality and cultural heritage products the world over. The EU presented two communications on geographical indications to the World Trade Organisation Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council in Geneva on 25-26 June. This initiative is co-sponsored by the European Union and its 15 Member States, along with more than a dozen other countries, many of them from the developing world. Unveiling the proposals, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: 'This is an opportunity for the EU and developing countries to work hand-in-hand at the WTO in protecting their high-quality agricultural produce and cultural heritage, which we both attach so much importance to.' For more information:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/index_en.htm

[Background paper IP/02/926]

Data Protection: Commission seeks views on privacy legislation

Should bosses be able to read the e-mails employees send and receive at work? Are customers who want to buy on-line confident that the personal data they give will not be used in ways they have not agreed to? Are businesses over-burdened by enquiries from people wanting access to the personal details companies hold about them? In an on-line consultation, the European Commission is seeking views on these and other aspects of the protection of personal data. The survey is part of the Interactive Policy Making initiative (see IP/01/519). The results will feed into the Commission's report, due at the end of this year, on how the 1995 Data Protection Directive is being applied. To collect a wide range of views and to make it as easy as possible for everybody to contribute, the Commission has put two questionnaires on its website, one for individuals and one for businesses that process people's data. Both can be found at http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice. Responses can be sent to the Commission from that site.

[Background paper IP/02/923]

Council adopts directive on distance marketing of financial services

The Council has agreed a Directive for the distance marketing to consumers of financial services (cf. IP/02/707). This Directive lays down common rules for selling contracts for credit cards, investment funds, pension plans, etc. to consumers by phone, fax or internet. The Directive fills the 'legal gap' in existing consumer protection legislation, left by the exclusion of financial services from the 1997 Directive on distance selling. Its main features are: (1) the prohibition of abusive marketing practices seeking to oblige consumers to buy a service they have not solicited ("inertia selling"); (2) rules to restrict other practices such as unsolicited phone calls and e-mails ("cold calling" and "spamming"); (3) an obligation to provide consumers with comprehensive information before a contract is concluded; and (4) a consumer right to withdraw from the contract during a cool-off period - except in cases where there is a risk of price fluctuations in the financial market. The agreed standards are in line with those already applicable to all other retail sectors. The Directive will come into force two years after publication in the Official Journal.

The European Commission gives new impetus to the European social dialogue

The European Commission adopted a communication on social dialogue, which strengthens its role in Europe's strategy of economic and social reforms. In this way, the Commission proposes raising the profile of the results of the social dialogue and strengthening coherence between the national and European levels. It also proposes the creation of a "tripartite social summit for growth and employment", bringing together, at the highest political level, the Presidency of the Council, the Presidency of the Commission and the European social partners. This summit will be held at least once every year on the eve of the spring European Council that discusses the economic and social situation of the Union. Finally, the Commission calls on the social partners to really develop their independent dialogue, which is currently too limited, through joint work programmes that should produce concrete results, i.e. agreements that are incorporated into Community law. The Commission takes the view that the social dialogue is the best forum for striking new balances between flexibility and security. This role of the social dialogue is particularly important ahead of enlargement, at a time when the players and the traditions of partnership are still weak in many candidate countries in spite of the initiatives taken by the social partners and the support of Community programmes.

[Background paper IP/02/921]

Have pets, travel restrictions on the movement of domestic pets within the European Union will be eased

A new system approved by the Council of EU Agriculture Ministers paves the way for pet owners to travel more easily within the European Union with their domestic pets.

Welcoming the Council's common position, David Byrne, the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said: "This is excellent news for pet owners like myself. Today marks a significant step towards harmonisation of the rules governing the movement of pets within the EU." He continued: "This has been made possible by the dramatic progress achieved as a result of our ongoing campaign to stamp out rabies in those regions of the Union where it has been endemic. Without wishing to tempt fate, we can reasonably expect the Union to become rabies-free in the foreseeable future. Today's agreement makes provision for a future re-assessment of the situation in the light of experience and after consulting the experts, which I hope will enable further harmonisation of the pet movement rules."

[Background paper IP/02/950]

1000 young Europeans from 33 countries meet in Copenhagen to debate the future of Europe

At the initiative of the future Danish Presidency of the European Union and with the support of the Commission, 1000 young people aged between 18 and 25 from 33 European countries will meet in Copenhagen from Monday onwards for two weeks of debate on: "If there were to be a European constitution, what would you like to see it include?" The outcome of this major summer school for young Europeans will be made public and communicated to the Convention. The European Commissioner for Education and Culture, Viviane Reding, was in Copenhagen on Monday 1 July for the launch of "Youth 2002", which is being run as a follow-up to the White Paper on Youth adopted by the Commission in November 2001.

[Background paper IP/02/951]

Eurostat news releases

Flash estimate - June 2002 Euro-zone inflation estimated at 1.7%

Euro-zone annual inflation is expected to be 1.7% in June 2002, down from 2.0% in May 2002, according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat. This is the lowest rate since December 1999 when euro-zone annual inflation also was 1.7%. The euro-zone inflation is measured by the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP). To compute the MUICP flash estimates, Eurostat uses early price information relating to the reference month from Member States for which data are available as well as early information about energy prices.

[Background paper STAT/02/76]

Yearbook on Candidate and South East-European Countries: How to get to know our neighbours better; a useful tool in the enlargement process

Eurostat issues a new yearbook on Candidate and South East European countries. This 257-page Yearbook contains detailed statistical tables covering population, education, Research and Development (R&D), social indicators, the labour force, national accounts, finance, agriculture, energy, industry and construction, retail trade and tourism, transport and communications, external trade and the environment. It also contains a new chapter on regional statistics. The data presented in this publication has mostly been provided by the National Statistical Offices of the corresponding partner countries and generally covers the 1996-2000 period.

[Background paper STAT/02/75]

Enlargement news

Summit backs enlargement for 2004

The European Council of Seville has reaffirmed the EU's commitment to the timetable for enlargement. Despite delays in finalising the full EU common position on the agriculture chapter, EU leaders said they were determined to do everything to conclude negotiations by the end of this year so that the first new members could join by 2004. "The European Council reaffirms that, if the present rate of progress in negotiations and reforms is maintained, the European Union is determined to conclude the negotiations with Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia by the end of 2002, if those countries are ready," they agreed.

The President of the European Council, José-Maria Aznar, said at the close of the summit: "The objective of completing negotiations by the end of 2002 is attainable, for up to ten new members to take part in the European Parliament elections in 2004." European Commission President Romano Prodi said there was "no change to the timetable". And President of the Council of Ministers Josep Piqué said: "All the conditions are now in place for keeping to the timetable, with the candidates formalising their accession at the beginning of March next year and being able to take part in the European elections in late spring 2004."

The formal conclusions from the summit state that "decisive progress has been made in the accession negotiations during the first six months of the year. The negotiations are now entering their final phase." For the chapters on agriculture, regional policy and coordination of structural instruments, and financial and budgetary provisions and institutions, "financial and other questions which were not dealt with when common positions were finalised ... will need to be settled as soon as possible".

On timing, the summit conclusions say that to enable the autumn European Council to decide the candidate countries with which negotiations can be concluded at the end of 2002, "the Council will have to take the appropriate decisions in order to communicate all the items lacking in the financial package to the candidate countries in early November, and the Commission will have to draft appropriate recommendations in the light of the regular reports (…). It would seem reasonable to expect that the Treaty of Accession could be signed in spring 2003".

Meanwhile, "it is important that the candidate countries should continue to make progress in the implementation and effective application of the acquis communautaire", say the conclusions. "The candidate countries must take all necessary measures to bring their administrative and judicial capacity up to the required level" - particularly in justice and home affairs and veterinary and plant health requirements. And the Council warned that the "common aim" of new members being admitted in 2004 "can be realised within the time frame envisaged only if each candidate country adopts a realistic and constructive approach".

The agriculture chapter still without direct payments

The European Union reached an agreement on a compromise text on the issue of agriculture when foreign affairs ministers met at the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 17 June. This was the last of the negotiation chapters on which EU agreement had still been lacking, the Spanish Presidency said, indicating that this breakthrough signalled that it had kept to the timetable for the negotiations.

But, it admitted, there had still been no substantive agreement on the question of direct payments to farmers in the new member states - the issue that had held up agreement on this chapter, because of divergent views among the EU member states. This issue has been deferred until later, and instead the Council agreed what the Presidency termed "a framework for handling the issue of direct payments", which "will be incorporated in the EU common positions on agriculture".

The wording agreed by ministers notes that the EU's financial perspectives for 2000-2006, as agreed at the Berlin summit in 1999, did not cover direct payments in agriculture to the new member states. But, the text goes on, direct support schemes for farmers "are part of the acquis", and since the acquis must be applied to all member states (albeit with transitional provisions still to be finalised with the candidates in the Treaty of Accession), "a decision on the issue of direct payments must still be taken in order to complete the common position on agriculture".

The timeframe for making the decision is defined as follows: "In accordance with the timeframe agreed in Göteborg and Laeken, this decision will be taken in due time to comply with the steps and timetable to be agreed in the Seville European Council in relation with the final phase of the enlargement negotiations, and without prejudging the forthcoming internal discussions on Community policies."

An accompanying European Commission declaration says: "The Commission recalls that its proposal for the progressive phasing-in of direct payments remains valid and the Commission will reintroduce this approach in the draft common positions it intends to put forward in the autumn."

European Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen greeted the outcome as "a very important and successful day". Technically the EU now has a common position and can start to negotiate the chapter with the candidates, on everything except the "three or four per cent" that direct payments represent. Work can start on the difficult questions such as quotas and reference periods, he indicated. And politically the EU was giving a strong signal to the candidates of its commitment to stick to the envisaged timetable. "The Presidency did not allow member states to avoid a decision," the Commissioner said. He admitted that "without a decision we would have lost time and credibility". Now, with this decision, there is "a good possibility to keep to the timetable".

Exchanging administrative data across the wider Europe

The Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia should be able to plug more closely into the way the EU works following a 20 June decision by the European Commission to let them take part in the EU's Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA). Administrations in these countries will be able to exchange data with EU Member States' back offices on how best to apply EU law, enforce single market rules, and supply e-Government services across borders to citizens and enterprises. Current IDA projects are focusing on health and consumer protection, access to the internal market for products, and environmental policies. The idea is that stepping up data exchange will accelerate the candidates' assumption of the EU legislation before they formally join the Union.

The € 23.6 million IDA work programme for 2002, approved by the Commission on 4 June, and which the candidates were involved in preparing, includes actions to promote electronic interaction among citizens, enterprises and governments. It marks the start of large-scale involvement of EU candidate countries in IDA projects. The precise participation rules for the candidates will be set out in memoranda of understanding soon to be signed with these countries. Similar memoranda should also be signed with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania and Turkey, as soon as remaining national constitutional and procedural difficulties with the memoranda texts have been ironed out. Malta and Slovakia are expected to follow them in a matter of months.

Competition for enlargement

"The moment is crucial, and it will need the determination of everybody involved to achieve a successful enlargement with up to ten new member states in less than two years." This was the central message from European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti when he addressed the Commission's competition conference in Vilnius on 17 June. He outlined to the candidate countries some of their current deficiencies in EU competition law compliance. Although there have been improvements over the last year, he said, in at least half-a-dozen candidates there is still a lot of work to be done to bring their competition rules in line with the EU. But, he added: "I am confident that it is still possible over the summer to solve several outstanding issues."

Five of the so-called "Laeken ten" candidates have yet to close the competition chapter, thus presenting them with a continuing obstacle to completing negotiations by the envisaged deadline of the end of 2002, said the Commissioner. In the area of anti-trust, he noted improvements in the legislative framework, including in relation to the recent EU block exemptions on vertical and horizontal restraints. But there have been more merger cases affecting candidate countries, suggesting that economic operators are increasingly confident that EU enlargement will go ahead successfully as planned: in consequence, the most important distortions of competition, and in particular hard-core cartels, still need plenty of attention, he said.

And for state aid, "progress is only gradual", said Monti. He said it was "unacceptable" that some countries still operate incompatible fiscal aid schemes that remain open for new entrants: "I find it very disturbing to see that some countries continue, to this day, to accept new entrants for incompatible fiscal aid schemes. This is problematic for the full implementation of the principles of the Internal Market," he warned. Candidate countries have already been invited to convert their incompatible fiscal aid benefits into compatible ones, usually regional aid, since high regional aid intensities are permissible in most of the candidates' regions - but this has yet to happen fully. The EU has set out the intended mechanism for dealing with existing aid measures that candidates would like to maintain in force after accession. Only compatible aid measures that have been approved by national authorities, and to which the Commission has not objected, will become eligible as existing aid: all other aid measures will have to be re-notified after accession as new aid, and incompatible aid that continues to be granted after accession might have to be recovered from the beneficiary, the Commissioner reminded the candidates. One of the key obstacles to the provisional closure of the competition negotiations remains the situation in the sensitive sectors, and notably the steel sector, he added.

And, as conference co-chairman Rimantas Stanikunas, chairman of the Lithuanian Competition Council, said: "Although Lithuania and some other countries have already provisionally closed the competition chapter, the task ahead remains complex in the light of the EU's current drive to modernise its anti-trust, merger and state aid rules." Alexander Schaub, director general for competition at the European Commission, the other co-chairman, said he was encouraged by the active participation and the contributions from colleagues in the applicant countries: "The competition culture which we have progressively built up in the current member states is taking root also in all candidate countries," he said.