Week in Europe 15-21/10/01

Week in Europe 15-21/10/01

EU news in brief

Action by the European Union following the attacks on 11 September

The EU was swift to respond to the terrorist attacks on 11 September. In accordance with the Plan of Action adopted by the Extraordinary European Council held in Brussels on 21 September, it has set in train a series of measures in those areas where it must and can make an effective contribution: external relations, police and judicial cooperation, air transport, humanitarian aid and economic and financial policy.

· It intends to continue and build on these measures, guided by the values of solidarity, security and steadfast determination in the fight against terrorism.

· Solidarity with the American people and the civilian population of Afghanistan.

· Strengthened security in air travel and other forms of transport

· Firm determination in the fight against terrorism, reflected in closer cooperation between our Member States' own police and judicial authorities and with the authorities of the United States and other non-EU countries, coupled with a major diplomatic drive to create a broad coalition against terrorism.

[Background paper MEMO/01/327]

Margot Wallström announces an action plan to deal with large-scale terrorist attacks

Commissioner Margot Wallström welcomed the remarkable progress made at the extraordinary meeting of Directors-General for civil protection, chaired by the Commission, at Knokke, Belgium, on 11 and 12 October 2001. As requested by the Ministers for Justice, Internal Affairs and Civil Protection at their extraordinary meeting on 20 September, the Directors-General focused their discussion on the kind of response required from the civil protection authorities in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack inside or outside the Union. Closer European cooperation in this area will help protect the public.

[Background paper IP/01/1413]

Public procurement: Commission issues guidelines for taking social considerations into account

The European Commission has clarified how Community law offers numerous possibilities to public purchasers who wish to integrate social considerations into public procurement procedures. The clarifications take the form of an interpretative Communication that explains how social concerns may be taken into account at each separate stage of the contract award procedure. As public procurement amounts to over €1,000 billion every year across the European Union (14% of EU GDP), taking social concerns into account in these purchases could contribute to sustainable development as well as economic and social renewal in the Union. The interpretative Communication is available on the Commission's Europa website:

http://simap.eu.int/

[Background paper IP/01/1418]

Commission allocates almost EURO 7 million for humanitarian aid operations in the Northern Caucasus

The European Commission has decided to provide additional financial support worth €6.85 million for humanitarian aid to support the victims of the Chechnya conflict during the first half of the coming winter. The funds will cover the most pressing needs of the population affected by the conflict, both in Chechnya itself and in the neighbouring republics. Internally displaced people (IDPs), returnees and the most vulnerable groups of the population will benefit from the assistance. The money will be channelled through the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson. With this new allocation, the overall amount allocated by the Commission to the victims of the Chechnya conflict since the beginning of the current crisis in September 1999 amounts to over €50 million, making the EC the largest donor in the region.

[Background paper IP/01/1416]

European Commission proposes comprehensive preferential trade package for Pakistan

Further to the conclusion of a series of negotiating rounds with Pakistan, the European Commission presented a comprehensive package of trade measures designed to significantly improve access for Pakistani exports to the EU. The proposed package would give Pakistan the best possible access to the EU short of a Free Trade Agreement by making it eligible for the new Special Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Scheme for countries combating drugs. It has been specifically tailored to target clothing and textiles accounting for three-quarters of Pakistan's exports to the EU. It would remove all tariffs on clothing and increase quotas for Pakistani textiles and clothing by 15%. In return, Pakistan will improve access to its market for EU clothing and textile exporters. Announcing the package to be presented to the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament for approval, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: « We have made this negotiation a top priority because Pakistan is in an exceptional situation. We have targeted those areas where Pakistan can benefit most, namely clothing and textiles. Trade is a weapon of peace. Through trade and the fostering of greater economic ties with Pakistan the EU can contribute to alleviating in some measure its current difficulties. »

[Background paper IP/01/1426]

Postal services: Commission welcomes political agreement on further liberalisation

The European Commission has welcomed the political agreement reached at the EU's Council of Telecommunications Ministers in Luxembourg on 15 October to further liberalise the Internal Market for postal services. Under the agreement, that will now be submitted to the European Parliament for its second reading, Member States would have to open up a substantial additional market share to competition from 2003 and a further share of the market from 2006. The Commission would make a proposal in 2007 confirming accomplishment of the Internal Market in postal services from 2009 unless there were adverse effects on the provision of universal service. The March 2001 Stockholm European Council, called for a new postal Directive to be agreed before the end of this year.

[Background paper IP/01/1420]

Anna Diamantopoulou at the European Conference on Migration

European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Anna Diamantopoulou, speaking at the European Conference on Migration, will make five points in the discussion on common policies for economic migration. First, labour mobility and migration are linked. As long as obstacles to free movement of labour persist, migration and immigration can only be a 'drop in the ocean' of EU-wide skill shortages. That is why the Commission launched its New European Labour Markets initiative earlier this year. Second, the principle of free movement of workers applies equally to candidate countries as to existing EU member states. The only purpose of any transitional arrangements is to help new member states to manage the transition smoothly from relatively low productivity/low income countries to high productivity/high income countries. This takes time. Third, large-scale migratory pressures reflect political and economic failure. EU immigration and asylum policies have a part to play in helping victims of such failure, but poverty in the world must also be addressed at its root in the countries of origin. Fourth, migration is not gender-neutral. The proportion of women migrants has varied over time, depending on such factors as rules on family reunification. We must monitor trends. Fifth, we must develop a coherent EU approach to migrant rights, for example in order to counter discrimination on grounds of ethic origin.

Commission clarifies application of State aid rules to Public Service Broadcasting

The European Commission has adopted in principle a Communication that explains how State aid rules are applied to funding of public service broadcasters. The Communication, which is still to be formally adopted in the Community languages, clarifies that Member States are in principle free to define the extent of the public service and the way it is financed and organised, according to their preferences, history and needs. The Commission, however, calls for transparency on these aspects in order to assess the proportionality of State funding and to control possible abusive practices. Member States are asked whenever this is lacking to establish a precise definition of the public service remit, to formally entrust it to one or more operators through an official act and to have in place an appropriate authority monitoring its fulfilment. The Commission will intervene in cases where a distortion of competition arising from the aid cannot be justified with the need to perform the public service as defined by the Member State and to provide for its funding. The "Communication on the application of State aid rules to public service broadcasting" will be published on the Internet pages of the Commission's Directorate General for Competition (http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition)

as soon as the legal-linguistic revision of the text has been completed.

[Background paper IP/01/1429]

Commission approves EURO 880 million for forward looking and more flexible research

The European Commission adopted a proposal by Commissioner Philippe Busquin to allocate €440 million from the EU research budget to one of the key innovative elements of the EU's future action: "Anticipating the EU's scientific and technological needs". This will cover two areas: research to help improve important policies such as agriculture, fisheries, public health, consumer protection as well as aspects of environmental, transport and energy policies; and research on the emerging fields of science and technology at the frontiers of knowledge. The proposal builds in flexibility by providing for a further €440 million to be allocated at a later stage as needs develop and and new subjects emerge.

[Background paper IP/01/1434]

Commission clarifies application of State aid rules to Public Service Broadcasting

The European Commission has adopted in principle a Communication that explains how State aid rules are applied to funding of public service broadcasters. The Communication, which is still to be formally adopted in the Community languages, clarifies that Member States are in principle free to define the extent of the public service and the way it is financed and organised, according to their preferences, history and needs. The Commission, however, calls for transparency on these aspects in order to assess the proportionality of State funding and to control possible abusive practices. Member States are asked whenever this is lacking to establish a precise definition of the public service remit, to formally entrust it to one or more operators through an official act and to have in place an appropriate authority monitoring its fulfilment. The Commission will intervene in cases where a distortion of competition arising from the aid cannot be justified with the need to perform the public service as defined by the Member State and to provide for its funding. The "Communication on the application of State aid rules to public service broadcasting" will be published on the Internet pages of the Commission's Directorate General for Competition (http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition) as soon as the legal-linguistic revision of the text has been completed.

[Background paper IP/01/1429]

European Commission promotes high-quality Services of General Interest in Europe

The European Commission has approved a report on services of general interest for the Laeken European Council in December. The Report announces new measures to increase legal certainty and transparency in the application of state aid rules to the funding of services of general interest and an improved system of evaluation of the performances of such services to the benefit of citizens.

[Background paper IP/01/1427]

Afghan crisis to be discussed at Humanitarian Aid Committee meeting

European Commission and Member States experts were meeting in the Humanitarian Aid Committee (HAC) to discuss latest developments in the Afghanistan crisis. Whilst no new decisions are expected to be taken , the meeting provides a forum for an exchange of information and analysis on the EU (Commission and Member States) humanitarian operational strategies and funding. In view of the seriousness of the humanitarian situation, the discussion will also deal with how to better support the operational coordination needed in order to ensure the best possible response to the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people. The General Affairs Council of 8th October 2001 and the informal Development Council of 10th October 2001 decided that all available information on humanitarian interventions by the European Union has to be collected as soon as possible. For 2001, the EU has so far contributed over euro 310 million to the crisis, 100 million of which is managed directly by the Commission.

[Background paper MEMO/01/332]

Money laundering: Commission welcomes conciliation agreement on new Directive

The European Commission has welcomed the approval of a compromise text on the proposal to upgrade the EU's money laundering Directive by the European Parliament's delegation in the conciliation procedure with the EU's Council of Ministers. At its October 17th meeting in Brussels, the delegation voted by 12 votes in favour of the compromise text, with one abstention. As this compromise has already been endorsed by the Member States, the conciliation procedure can be formally closed by an exchange of letters between the Parliament and the Council without the need for a meeting of the Conciliation Committee.

[Background paper IP/01/1441]

Frits Bolkestein highlights tax obstacles for companies within Internal Market

"It is astonishing that some 8 years after establishing the Internal Market so many tax obstacles still exist for companies", said European Taxation Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, speaking at a conference in Rotterdam on 18th October. These obstacles include double taxation arising from distribution of dividends, mergers and transfer pricing and difficulties in offsetting losses in one Member State against profits in another. Mr Bolkestein was outlining some of the findings of a study on company taxation that the Commission will publish shortly. The study, carried out at the request of Member States, will report also on effective company tax rates in Member States. Mr Bolkestein indicated that the Commission will adopt very shortly a Company Taxation Communication that will review possible targeted solutions to combat tax obstacles for companies wishing to operate in more than one Member States and a range of "comprehensive approaches" to overcome the additional obstacle of the current costly inefficiencies of having to deal with up to 15 separate sets of national tax rules. Mr Bolkestein indicated that the Commission plans to work in partnership with the Member States' tax administrations to create the necessary framework for companies to exploit all the possibilities the Internal Market creates. [Full speech SPEECH/01/470]

EU promotes eGovernment at Conference presenting interactive applications that work in practice

60 on-line administration services have been selected by a team of independent experts for the quality of their interactivity with their users. These services, chosen from 282 proposals from various countries, will be awarded the "eGovernment" label. They will be presented at the Conference on eGovernment: From Policy to Practice jointly organised by the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency on 29 and 30 November 2001 in Brussels. 45 of them will form part of an on-the-spot exhibition. Erkki Liikanen, the European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Information Society, Luc Van den Bossche and Rik Daems, the Belgian Ministers responsible for Public Administration and Telecommunications respectively, will participate in this event, alongside numerous Ministers from the countries involved. The EU Member States, the EFTA countries and the accession candidate countries have competed for this prize for excellence in the field of technology placed at the service of administration users and customers at local, regional or national level.

[Background paper IP/01/1456]

Eurostat news releases

Second Quarter 2001 - Production in the construction sector down by 1.4% in euro-zone and by 0.6% in EU15

A new euro-indicator published quarterly by Eurostat

Seasonally adjusted production in the construction sector decreased by 1.4% in the euro-zone and by 0.6% in the EU15 in the second quarter of 2001 compared to the first quarter, Eurostat estimates. This follows a decrease of 1.5% in the euro-zone and of 1.0% for the EU15 in the first quarter of 2001.

[Background paper 107/2001]

September 2001 - Euro-zone annual inflation down to 2.5%; EU15 down to 2.4%

Euro-zone annual inflation fell from 2.7% in August to 2.5% in September, Eurostat reports. A year earlier the rate was 2.8%. EU15 annual inflation fell from 2.6% in August to 2.4% in September. A year earlier the rate was 2.5%. EEA annualinflation was down to 2.4% in September.

[Background paper 108/2001]

August 2001 - Industrial production up by 1.1% in euro-zone; EU15 up by 1.0%

Enlargement news

Seminar on consumer policy for EU candidate countries

Enforcing consumer protection legislation in the internal market, and the role of consumer associations in this context, is the overall theme of this year's seminar on consumer policy for candidate countries. The seminar focuses on the revised General Product Safety Directive (see IP/01/1367) as it provides a very good illustration of the issue. It takes place in the Charlemagne building in Brussels on 17 October. Journalists are invited to participate. The programme is available in Breydel offices 6/94 and 6/166. The European Commission has been organising seminars for representatives of consumers associations together with the administrative bodies from the applicant countries as well as the EC Consumer Committee since 1998. David Byrne, Commissioner for Health and Consumer protection, will give the opening speech. Results of the seminar will be presented to the Annual Assembly of Consumer Associations in Europe which takes place in the Charlemagne on 18-19 October.

Eu presidency fosters prevention of illegal immigration in candidates

The Belgian Presidency of the EU recently ran a "high impact" operation to target illegal immigration networks and trafficking in human beings in the candidate countries. The aim was to foster direct co-operation between the law enforcement authorities of the candidates, the member states and Europol, and to strengthen candidates' border control capabilities through technical assistance and exchange of expertise in the EU member states. This joint operation on border control measures at the future external borders of the EU comes on top of existing, intensive assistance programmes in this area funded by Phare and bilaterally by member states.

It involved EU member states and the ten candidates in central and eastern Europe: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. Belgian Interior Minister Duquesne visited four candidate countries during the operation, together with the head of Europol; during the Hungarian leg of the programme, Hungary's co-operation agreement with Europol was signed.

Eurobarometer shows understanding for the importance of enlargement, but fears about the consequences; Level of information still to be improved

The full version of the latest Eurobarometer report on views in the current Member Sates of the EU, published this week, shows that on average, 43% of EU citizens are in favour of enlargement and 35% against. While only 21% of EU citizens believe that enlargement should include all of the current candidates in the immediate future. 44% favoured allowing some candidates in. Only 16% said there should be no enlargement at all, with French, Austrian and Belgian citizens continuing to show the most opposition to enlargement, with more than 20% rejecting taking on any new members. 46% of Greeks want the enlargement process speeded up, while 31% of Luxembourgers want it slowed down. There are widespread concerns (66% of all respondents) that with more countries in the EU, it will be harder to make European-level decisions, and 50% of EU citizens surveyed said they feared their country would receive less EU aid once new members joined. 41% feared higher unemployment as a result of enlargement, and 51% said enlargement would be expensive for present member states. But 63% welcomed the added importance an enlarged EU would have at world level; 61% felt the EU would be culturally richer after enlargement; and 50% felt enlargement would boost peace and security. 78% of EU citizens say they feel not very well informed about enlargement, or not informed at all. Eurobarometer can be downloaded from

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg10/epo/eb.html.

[Background paper IP/01/1421]

Belgian foreign affairs minister Annemie Neyts started her tour of the candidate countries last week, as part of the EU Presidency preparations for the European Council of Laeken in December. She will be talking about co-operation in the fight against terrorism, the future of Europe and the impending Laeken Declaration, and "enlargement as a political process". Her first visits were to Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia, on 14, 15 and 18 October.

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