JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

11 June 2001

further to the Council and Commission statements
pursuant to Rule 37(4) of the Rules of Procedure by

• -Hans-Gert Poettering, W.G. van Velzen, Inigo Méndez de Vigo, Elmar Brok, Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos and Jorge Moreira da Silva on behalf of the PPE-DE Group
• -Enrique Barón Crespo and Jan Andersson on behalf of the PSE Group
• -Jules Maaten, Andrew Duff and Patrick Cox, on behalf of the ELDR Group
• -Jean Lambert, Alexander de Roo and Heidi Hautala on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

replacing the motions by the following groups:

• -PPE/DE (B5-0405/2001),
• -Verts/ALE (B5-0406/2001),
• -ELDR (B5-0408/2001),
• -PSE (B5-0409/2001)

on the preparation of the European Council on 15-16 June 2001 in Göteborg (Gothenburg)

European Parliament resolution on the preparation of the European Council on 15-16 June in Göteborg (Gothenburg)

The European Parliament,

-  having regard to the Council and Commission statements on the preparation of the European Council meeting on 15-16 June 2001 in Göteborg,

-   having regard to the conclusions of the European Councils of Cardiff (June 1998), Helsinki (December 1999), Lisbon (March 2000) and Stockholm (March 2001),

-   having regard to the Commission communication 'Ten years after Rio: preparing for the World Summit on sustainable development in 2002' and to the Commission consultation paper on sustainable development,

-   having regard to the Hulthén report on 'Environmental policy and sustainable development: preparing for the Gothenburg European Council' and to the Myller report on 'The Community Environment Action programme 2001-2010',

-  having regard to the Méndez de Vigo/Seguro report on the Treaty of Nice and the future of the European Union, adopted by an overwhelming majority on 31 May 2000,

-  having regard to its earlier resolution of 17 May 2001 on the situation in the Middle East,

-  having regard to its resolution of 15 March 2001 on conflict prevention and civil crisis management,

-  having regard to its resolution on the Transatlantic Dialogue of 17 May 2001,

Enlargement

1.  Recalls the fact that the reunification of Europe in an area of peace, security, prosperity and stability remains the historic task of the European Union and the definitive challenge in Europe;

2.  Warns about the lack of momentum of the enlargement process due to the fact that in the Member States the emphasis now lies on the consequences of enlargement for existing EU policies and acknowledging that the principles of the current cohesion policy needs to be maintained; invites the EU governments to prepare society properly for enlargement;

3.  Calls on the European Council to ensure that enlargement negotiations are pursued at an accelerated pace so that candidate countries with whom negotiations have been concluded may have the prospect of participating in the 2004 European elections;

4.  Warns of the impact on public opinion in the applicant countries of any delay in accession, and notes with great concern the falling support for accession in Central and Eastern Europe, requiring more efforts by the governments concerned to convince their citizens of the advantages and benefits of joining the EU;

5.  Welcomes the recent agreements reached on a common EU position for negotiations with applicant countries;

6.  Calls on the European Council to ensure that, in future negotiations on enlargement, there is no 'bundling' between issues such as freedom of movement and readjustment of the financial perspectives and that each candidate country's application is treated on its merits; agrees that, in a limited number of areas, transitional periods could be provided for but on condition that they be made as short as possible;

Future of the Union

7.  Believes that reform of the Treaties should be preceded by a large-scale and detailed public debate and that this debate should take place at European and national level; calls for the establishment of national committees or other types of bodies chosen by the national authorities, to be responsible for organising this debate;

8.  Believes that the final outcome of the forthcoming IGC will depend essentially on how it is prepared, and therefore calls for a Convention to be established with an organisational set-up and mandate similar to those of the Convention which drafted the Charter of Fundamental Rights and:

• -made up of members of the national parliaments, of the European Parliament, of the Commission and of the governments, as well as of observers from the applicant countries,
• -responsible for drawing up constitutional proposals to serve as a basis for the discussions of the IGC,
• -and to start work at the beginning of 2002;

9.  Believes that the IGC should be convened for the second half of 2003 so that it can finalise its work by the end of that year;

10.  Notes the result of the Irish referendum which rejects the Treaty of Nice; insists that the European Council accept full responsibility not only for the drafting of the treaty but also for its ratification; reaffirms its own insistence on a radical reform of the method for future treaty amendment, involving a transparent process of constitutional development with broad participation by citizens;

Sustainable development

11.  Welcomes the special prominence given by the Swedish Presidency to the theme of sustainable development and calls on the Göteborg European Council to give significant new impetus to a European policy aiming at a long-term development strategy, including economic, social, and environmental aspects; considers it essential that the European Council should develop a strong political leadership in this field; welcomes the Commission's consultation paper for the preparation of a European Union strategy for sustainable development, but regrets that it was not forwarded to the European Parliament in time for it to give its opinion on the specific proposals contained therein;

12.  Supports the strategy outlined in the consultation paper, in particular the cross-industry proposal to ensure greater coherence and cost-effectiveness for political decisions on the one hand, and the setting of priority targets and EU-level measures to meet the greatest sustainable development challenges not covered by the Lisbon strategy, namely climate change, threats to public health, depletion of natural resources and soil use on the other;

13.  Believes that in order to keep its fundamental leader-role on the international scene the EU must first and foremost define and adopt concrete and realistic internal objectives to address pressing unsustainable trends;

14.  Calls on the Commission to add the topic 'Sustainable Food' to the six fundamental topics of the European strategy for sustainable development and to present concrete proposals concerning urban and territorial development;

15.  Is of the opinion that broad economic policy guidelines can easily incorporate the objectives of environmental sustainability and stresses that there is no contradiction but a genuine complementarity between the aim of creating jobs, economic development and sustainable development strategies;

16.  Underlines that social inclusion is a key dimension of any sustainable development strategy; access to essential services of general interest is a key element in such development; promoting quality of life including the development of more and better jobs should be part of this strategy, and the social agenda, which recognises the importance of a long-term viable pensions system, should therefore be an important element in this context;

17.  Stresses that there is a link between sustainability and solidarity, between regions and populations; therefore asks the Commission to draw up a declaration on 'economic and social cohesion in the context of the enlargement of the European Union', based on the need to place the debate on the Structural and Cohesion Funds in a positive perspective and in a spirit of solidarity in line with the Treaties and historical experience;

18.  Considers that global responsibility must be a key feature of the strategy and there should therefore be a significant EU contribution to the Rio + 10 Summit to be held in Johannesburg in 2002;

19.  Notes that the Cardiff process has been instrumental in supporting new environmental integration in the CEC, the Member States as well as the Council;

20.  Firmly believes that the Cardiff process is the key to best achieving the provisions of Article 6 of the Treaty and calls, therefore, on the Heads of State in Göteborg to reaffirm their commitment to the Cardiff process;

21.  Demands the adoption of a clear and precise action plan in Göteborg for the effective implementation of an EU sustainable development strategy together with deadlines for action and a commitment to review the situation at a subsequent summit;

22.  Calls for the introduction of a mandatory environmental impact assessment for all decisions and legislative proposals by the European Commission and publication of the results; looks forward to the adoption and implementation of EU environmental liability legislation, but notes that prevention of environmental damage, for example through environmental audit mechanisms, remains the most sustainable way of protecting the environment;

23.  Welcomes the Commission proposal to modify support from the CAP in order to reward high-quality products and practices rather than quantity and to phase out tobacco subsidies while putting in place some measures to develop alternative sources of income and economic activity for tobacco workers and growers;

24.  Calls attention to the fact that an EU sustainability strategy can only be effective if it is given the necessary budgetary resources;

25.  Stresses the importance of creating an independent 'Sustainability Round Table' with the mandate of monitoring, evaluation and follow-up on the basis of political priorities and sustainability indicators; this consultation body should reflect the different stakeholder interests in the European Union and in the accession countries and report regularly to the Council, Parliament and the Commission; the EP should be represented in this body and consulted on the nomination of its members;

26.  Instructs its President to review Parliament's own methods of working with a view to devising working practices which promote sustainable development and to organise a yearly plenary debate on sustainable development; asks Parliament's committees to regularly monitor the progress of the implementation of sustainability in EU policies;

Climate change

27.  Expects all the EU leaders to reconfirm their commitment to the Kyoto protocol on climate change, and calls on them to step up their diplomatic contacts on Capitol Hill in view of recent political developments in Washington, in order to bring the US Administration back on board;

28.  Welcomes recent Commission proposals to set an objective for greenhouse gas emissions for 2020 and the phasing-out of subsidies on fossil fuel production and consumption by 2010;

Foreign Policy

European security and defence policy

29.  Reminds the Council of the various proposals contained in its previous resolutions on European security and defence policy (ESDP), and reaffirms, in particular, its belief that a parliamentary dimension for the ESDP must be ensured;

30.  Welcomes the efforts made by the Member States over the past two years to set up a 60 000‑strong European Rapid Reaction Force ready to be deployed within 60 days by 2003, and expresses its hopes for an initial operating capability by the end of 2001;

31.  Reminds the EU Member States of their commitment to maintain their defence budgets at the level needed to reach the ambitious objectives of the ESDP;

32.  Welcomes the Swedish Presidency’s initiatives in the field of conflict prevention and civil crisis management; invites the European Council to adopt a strong and efficient programme on the dimension of conflict prevention through its Common Foreign and Security Policy; underlines that such a programme must be implemented without delay and must focus on structural aspects of conflict prevention as well as on civil crisis management;

33.  Calls on the Council to reaffirm its commitment to rigorous export controls as well as support for regional peace initiatives, as important ways of addressing the problem of missile proliferation, while also noting that such efforts need to be complemented by global and multilateral approaches;

Transatlantic relationship

34.  Insists that close cooperation between the United States and the European Union is essential not only to both US and European interests, but also to global interests in tackling issues such as the fight against poverty, safeguarding the environment, global trade, cultural and information diversity, the digital divide and organised crime;

35.  Is convinced that cooperation within the Atlantic Alliance continues to be of decisive global importance for security and stability;

36.  Is concerned about the US missile defence system proposals; stresses the necessity for the US to consult its European partners and all countries concerned prior to developing a missile defence system; urges the Council, in its discussions with the President of the US, to ensure that multilateral negotiations and dialogue should precede any new developments as regards the ABM Treaty;

The Middle East

37.  Expresses its deepest regret at the lives claimed by the conflict, and addresses its condolences and sympathy to the victims' families; firmly condemns the terrorist act perpetrated in Tel Aviv, as well as the use of exaggerated military force and all other acts of violence whatever their origin;

38.  Notes the previous declaration of the EU Presidency that 'the progress made on all major issues during the last negotiations should form the basis for future talks on the permanent status' of the Middle East region;

39.  Invites the Council to take the lead on an international initiative on the Israel/Palestine conflict based on the Mitchell report and to investigate possible joint action with the US; such a plan should include a platform for fresh negotiation between the two parties, the dispatch of an international observers' force, proper mechanisms for fighting terrorism, freezing of settlements, protection of the civilian population, and full respect for human rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention;

FYROM

40.  Condemns the acts of the terrorist forces coming from the UCK and other armed groups on the territory of FYROM; welcomes the initiatives of the Council, CFSP High Representative Solana and Commissioner Patten; supports the latest peace plans from the FYROM government and from all the democratic parties which are seeking a political solution to the country's problems;

41.  Urges the Commission to provide the necessary aid in full co-operation with the Macedonian government, so as to assist the refugees and the civilian population involved in the conflict;

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42.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Council, the Commission and the parliaments of the Member States.