European Parliament resolution on the preparation of the meeting of the European Council in Helsinki on 10 and 11 December 1999
C 194/88 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 11. 7. 2000 Thursday 2 December 1999 1. Approves the Commission proposal; 2. ment; 3. 4. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament should it intend to depart from the text approved by Parlia- Asks to be consulted again should the Council intend to amend the Comission proposal substantially; Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission. 13. Preparation of European Council in Helsinki B5-0308, 0309, 0311 and 0312/1999 European Parliament resolution on the preparation of the meeting of the European Council in Helsinki on 10 and 11 December 1999 The European Parliament, # having regard to the conclusions of the Luxembourg, Berlin and Cologne European Councils, and having heard the statements by the President of the Council and the President of the Commission on the forthcoming Helsinki European Council, # having regard to its resolution of 18 November 1999 on the preparation of the reform of the Treaties and the next Intergovernmental Conference (1), # having regard to its resolution of 16 September 1999 (2) on the establishment of the Charter of Fun- damental Rights, # having regard to the Commission communication of 13 October 1999 containing the 1999 regular reports on the applicant countries’ progress towards accession and a composite paper proposing the revision of the EU’s enlargement strategy, Internal Market and information society 1. Calls upon the European Council to endorse strongly the Internal Market strategy recently published by the Commission and to press the Commission to place this strategy at the centre of policy development across all its responsible directorates; 2. Welcomes the high prioity given by the Finnish presidency to information society issues, and the launch of a European information society strategy at Helsinki; emphasises its view that the widespread adoption of electronic commerce by large and small enterprises will significantly increase the dynamism and openness of the European economy; calls upon the Council to continue the emphasis given to this work and to put in place a coordinated legal framework that will encourage consumer and business sup- port for electronic commerce; Intergovernmental Conference Reiterates its request that the Community method be adopted and that it be fully involved at all 3. stages and at all levels of the IGC through the two representatives it elects; Urges the European Council to accept the clearly expressed will of Parliament that the agenda of the 4. IGC should be widened in order to meet the dual challenge of enlargement and democracy; Requests that the European Council should not pre-empt the decisions or limit the options of the 5. Convention established to draft the Charter of Fundamental Rights, especially with regard to its legal char- acter; ‘Texts adopted’ of 18 November 1999, Item 4. (1) (2) Minutes of the sitting of 16 September 1999, Part II, Item 10a. 11. 7. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 194/89 Thursday 2 December 1999 Enlargement 6. Invites the European Council to put an end to the invidious divide between two classes of applicant countries and to adopt the recommendations made on 13 October 1999 by the Commission, bringing its policy into line with Parliament’s ‘regatta’ model, opening the prospect of a fully flexible, multi-speed accession process, based exclusively on merit; 7. Urges the Commission and the Council to pay particular attention in the implementation of the pre- accession strategies and during the negotiations to social progress in the applicant countries, protection of the environment, energy safety and security, protection of minorities, gender discrimination, and asylum and migration policy; Considers that available financial resources must be redirected in order to allow investment in small- 8. scale infrastructure projects suited to the needs of local and regional communities; 9. Takes note of Turkey’s eligibility to apply for membership of the European Union; emphasises, how- ever, that negotiations cannot be opened because Turkey is still nowhere near from meeting the political criteria of Copenhagen; insists that, as a candidate country, Turkey must make clear and verifiable progress in meeting those criteria, especially regarding human rights and the rights of minorities; a clear road map, containing an overview of the measures to be taken by Turkey and the way in which the necessary reforms will be achieved, must therefore be developed; 10. Urges the Council to take the necessary decisions on a further continuation and intensification of the Barcelona process for peace and economic cooperation in favour of development and stability in the Mediterranean; Reaffirms its commitment to the full and speedy implementation of the Stability Pact for South 11. Eastern Europe; Employment, growth and stability Calls on the European Council to streamline and rationalise the EU’s mechanisms for economic and 12. social policy coordination which have developed on an ad hoc basis over a number of years; 13. Regrets that the European Parliament is excluded from the framework and institutional structure of the macroeconomic dialogue initiated in order to develop a policy mix for growth and employment; there- fore calls for closer cooperation between Council, Commission, Parliament and the social partners within the established interinstitutional framework; Requests the European Council, when considering recommendations for employment-boosting mea- 14. sures, to include measures which encourage greater entrepreneurship and new business start-ups; 15. Reiterates its support for continued progress towards a European Employment Policy; calls, there- fore, on the European Council to strengthen the Employment Guidelines 2000; believes that more impor- tance should be given to the effective involvement of the social partners in the implementation of the Guidelines at national level in order to guarantee, in particular, the quality of the measures adopted; 16. Urges the Council to break the deadlock on a political agreement regarding reinforced tax policy cooperation (including a withholding tax on savings and a code of conduct on corporate taxation), thereby making a significant contribution to the strengthening of economic and monetary union, the fight against the erosion of the tax base and the development of employment-friendly taxation; Environment and sustainable development 17. Welcomes the fact that the European Council is continuing what is known as the ‘Cardiff Process’ and notes that several reports on the integration of environmental policy into other policy areas will be submitted to the Helsinki European Council; welcomes the progress achieved so far within the various Councils, while emphasising that the progress remains very limited in scope and that it is essential that the process is coordinated by the Environment Council; C 194/90 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 11. 7. 2000 Thursday 2 December 1999 18. Regrets that the presentation of reports on environmental policy is not adequately underpinned by specific policy measures to integrate environmental concerns into other policy areas; calls for the closer integration of energy and environmental policy; believes that the time is ripe for action and that the Com- mission’s directorates, as well as the Member States, should implement the integration strategies outlined above without further delay; 19. Calls on the European Council to demonstrate once again the leadership that the European Union has exerted in the past in the global process of combating climate change; therefore expects the European Council to give a clear signal by committing the European Union to early ratification of the Kyoto Proto- col; An area of freedom, security and justice 20. Again welcomes the Commission initiative to establish a ‘scoreboard’ for the steps to be taken for the creation of a European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and expects to become fully involved in this exercise; insists on being better informed and consulted on all of the Council’s negotiations and agree- ments with third countries in the field of Justice and Home Affairs; 21. Points out that, despite the adoption in 1997 of an Action Plan to combat organised crime, the European Union’s efforts have remained rather incoherent; calls upon the European Council to set in train a more cohesive strategy for the period 2000-2004, on which the European Parliament must be consulted; 22. Asks the Council to guarantee appropriate democratic supervision of police and judicial cooper- ation by the European Parliament and by the Court of Justice and calls therefore for the revision of the Europol Convention; 23. Calls, both generally and in the context of the pre-accession strategy, for the Council to give high priority to combating drugs, particularly by stepping up cooperation in the fight against the trafficking and transit of drugs with the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe and with all the countries concerned; Calls for more progress in matters concerning freedoms and rights, in particular free movement of temporary protection of displaced persons and subsidiary protection family reunification, 24. persons, schemes; External relations 25. Welcomes the Finnish Presidency’s proposals regarding the Nordic dimension of the EU, which should make a major contribution to promoting European security and stability, democratic reforms and sustainable development in northern Europe; calls on the European Council to adopt its proposals and to decide to implement an action plan; 26. Calls upon the Council and the Commission to address by means of a common strategy the specific needs of Ukraine so as to strengthen the European orientation of the country and to support democratic development by involving local and regional communities; regrets, however, the fact that Parliament was not consulted beforehand; A Common European Defence Policy 27. Believes that the European Union needs a more integrated foreign and security policy encompassing trade, environment, development, support for democracy, human rights, etc. ; in this context supports the development of a common European defence policy as one element of a much broader process; 28. Urges the Council, within this framework, and without weakening transatlantic links or NATO, to take the necessary decisions to develop concrete initiatives on the non-military and military aspects of a common defence policy, while indicating the necessary operational capacities and the institutions that will ensure the taking of decisions in this field; 11. 7. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 194/91 Thursday 2 December 1999 29. Underlines the fact that military peacekeeping operations cannot meet all the requirements without increased efforts for civilian crisis management, which goes far beyond humanitarian assistance and includes the presence of civilian police and other administrators from all fields of civil activity; Expresses its hope that non-military crisis management will be resorted to more often as the prin- 30. cipal means of managing and solving crises and therefore invites the Council to play a proactive role in conflict prevention and to work actively to develop further this concept by strengthening democracy, respect for human rights as well as progress in economic and social development through good govern- ance bearing in mind that democratic societies do not go to war with each other and that by applying the full range of European values they are also internally stable; * * * Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the govern- 31. ments of the Member States. 14. Introduction of the euro * A5-0076/1999 European Parliament resolution on the report from the Commission to the Council on the dura- tion of the transitional period related to the introduction of the euro (COM(1999) 174 1 C5-0108/ 1999 1 1999/2111(COS)) The European Parliament, # having regard to the report from the Commission (COM(1999) 174 # C5-0108/1999), # having regard to the information memo to the Commission from Mr Marín and Mr de Silguy entitled ‘The introduction of euro notes and coins’ (SEC(1999) 1262), # having regard to the conclusions of the Madrid European Council of December 1995 concerning the political agreement on the timetable for the introduction of the euro, # having regard to its opinion of 28 November 1996 (1) on the proposal for a Council Regulation laying down certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro, # having regard to its opinion of 28 November 1996 (2) on the proposal for a Council Regulation on the introduction of the euro, # having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro (3), # having regard to the European Council resolution of 7 July 1997 on the legal framework for the introduction of the euro (4), # having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the introduction of the euro (5), # having regard to its decision of 13 March 1996 (6) on the common position established by the Council with a view to the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Directive on cross-border credit transfers, (1) OJ C 380, 16. 12. 1996, p. 47. (2) OJ C 380, 16. 12. 1996, p. 50. (3) OJ L 162, 19. 6. 1997, p. 1. (4) OJ C 236, 2. 8. 1997, p. 7. (5) OJ L 313, 21. 11. 1998, p. 29. (6) OJ C 96, 1. 4. 1996, p. 74