The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission Communication on the Annual Policy Strategy for 2009 (COM(2008)0072),

–  having regard to the implementation of the current Legislative and Work Programme for 2008 (COM(2007)0640),

–   having regard to its resolution of 24 April 2008 on the Commission Communication on the Annual Policy Strategy for 2009,

–  having regard to the contributions made by Parliament’s committees, which were forwarded to the Commission by the Conference of Presidents,

–  having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas 2009 will be a challenging year from the political as well as from the institutional point of view,

B.  whereas, therefore, it is crucial that the Structured Dialogue should be carried out in good time so that efforts can focus on defining the EU's key strategic objectives for the coming years,

C.  whereas political priorities should be matched with the available financial resources,

D.  whereas the Structured Dialogue with the Commission is an important interinstitutional step both in implementing the current Legislative and Work Programme for 2008 and in drawing up and adopting the Legislative and Work Programme for 2009,

Cross-cutting priorities

1.  Notes that 24 Member States have already ratified the Lisbon Treaty; underlines that it is of great importance to continue the process of ratifying the Treaty in the remaining Member States which have not yet done so; strongly supports, therefore, the European Council decision to continue with the ratification process despite the Irish rejection of the Treaty on 12 June 2008; is still convinced that the Lisbon Treaty offers the necessary instruments to make Europe stronger and to achieve a better European future for all Europeans;

CityplaceLisbon Strategy

2.  Reiterates its full support and political commitment to a reform-minded Lisbon Strategy, focusing on Growth and Jobs; stresses the political necessity of placing citizens at the heart of its concerns and, consequently, of elaborating policies for their benefit;

3.  Emphasises the importance of good governance and better regulation as golden working rules; believes that an effective practice of horizontal independent impact assessment and full consultation of the stake holders is the guarantee for achieving a balanced and realistic European legislation; in this context stresses the necessity for an efficient transposition, implementation and monitoring of European legislation;

4.  Believes that it is crucial to achieve the Lisbon Strategy objectives in a manner that is consistent with the climate change objectives, as regards the pending 'Energy and Climate' proposals and especially the forthcoming international negotiations;

5.  Strongly supports the completion of the Internal Market and emphasises the role it should play in promoting economic and social cohesion within the EU, efficient networking (transport, research and academic in general), support and simplification of the SME environment (SME financial accessibility), investment in human capital, climate change and the newly defined international dimension of this strategy; stresses that these remain areas of paramount importance to the success and visibility, as well as the understanding and effective communication of the entire strategy;

6.  Takes the view that economic and monetary stability are a precondition for successful reforms; reiterates that the Broad Economic Guidelines, the Employment and Social Guidelines and the national reform plans should remain the reference frame of the Lisbon Strategy; is aware that it is challenging to combine the pace of reform with the impact these reforms might have on the outcome of elections;

7.  Favours the reinforcement of steps to measure national (regional) sectoral achievements by means of a reinforced partnership with the national parliaments; emphasises the need for a concrete and ambitious financial framework to be clearly set, ensuring that high-level political commitments materialise;

8.  Notes that the Commission adopted the Social Package in July, which will contribute to improving confidence between employees and employers; underlines once again that SMEs are the heart of European active society and have therefore a major role to play; strongly believes that without growth and prosperity there is no social progress; remains convinced that Member States have to assume their own responsibilities and competences in accordance with the subsidiarity principle;

Good Governance, Better Regulation and Better Lawmaking

9.  Strongly believes that 2009 is the year for the implementation and enforcement of EU policies right across the placeUnion;

10.  Calls on the Commission to grant national parliaments the right, already under the current Treaty, to express their view as regards respect for the principle of subsidiarity and to react to these opinions in the same way as is foreseen in Protocol (N°2) of the Lisbon Treaty on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality; believes that this would send a clear signal to the citizens and national parliaments that the EU is moving closer to the citizen;

11.  Calls on the Commission to achieve, in closer collaboration with Member States, maximum transposition and implementation of European legislation by prioritising technical directives, and others with a major impact such as the Services Directive, the Consumer Credit Directive in the Internal Market Scoreboard; considers, in this connection, that the 'Better Regulation' programme, and in particular the correct implementation, monitoring and reporting of Community law, should be a priority, especially given that the Commission has a central task in helping Member States to achieve this objective;

12.  Urges the Commission to reduce administrative and regulatory burdens; recalls its support for reaching the goal of a 25 % reduction in administrative burdens by 2012, and urges tangible results; regards this as a key priority, in particular for SMEs, and as an essential contribution to reaching the Lisbon Strategy targets;

13.  Considers that the Commission should undertake vigorous and independently scrutinised impact assessments before bringing forward proposals for new directives;

Comitology

14.  Requests the Commission to submit to Parliament legislative proposals completing the ongoing comitology alignment and calls on the Commission to reach agreement with all the institutions on general principles and standard formulae which should provide the framework for future developments in this area;

Financial resources

Budgetary Aspects

15.  Expresses its strong objections to the consistent tendency of the Commission and the Council to put forward new political priorities without taking into account the tightness of the current Multi-annual Financial Framework for 2007-2013, and its deep concern at the constraints in responding efficiently to new priorities and safeguarding existing policies, given the limited availability of appropriations for 2009;

16.  Intends to firmly ensure that the necessary resources are made available by using all the possibilities provided by the Inter-institutional Agreement on budgetary discipline and sound financial management of 17 May 2006, particularly to finance climate change, energy saving, immigration and food aid;

17.  Considers the budget review to be an opportunity to overcome the shortfalls in some major policy areas for the second part of the Multi-annual Financial Framework and in the longer term;

18.  Recalls the linkage between the Legislative Work Programme and the Budget and calls for a more coherent reflection on the priorities expressed in the APS in the EU budget for the coming years;

19.  Welcomes Commission's screening exercise carried out on its staff; intends, however, to continue this exercise, focusing on the application of redeployment and outsourcing of tasks;

Budgetary Control

20.  Expects, as a key point for the discharge for the financial year 2007, significant progress on the implementation of the action plan for structural funds, and the new reporting scheme on irregularities and recoveries;

21.  Calls on the Commission to work with Member States in improving the quality of national declarations on EU funding (as foreseen by the IIA and the Financial Regulation) including the possible auditing of these declarations by national courts of auditors or by the ECA, and requests an early report on these efforts to establish a usable information tool for Parliament;

22.  Urges the Commission to work closely with Bulgaria and Romania as they seek to implement action plans to overcome the difficulties encountered in using EU funds, and to report regularly to the European Parliament;

Communicating placeEurope

23.  Supports the culture of subsidiarity as a key political element which should be the basis of a communication campaign by the Commission aimed at regaining the citizens' confidence in placeEurope;

24.  Calls on the Commission to place the citizen at the centre of the European project; urges the Commission to focus its efforts further on the development of an effective communication policy in order to provide citizens with the means to understand the EU better, especially in the year of the European elections; underlines the importance of swiftly implementing the citizens' right of initiative as provided for in the Lisbon Treaty; reminds the Commission of its commitment, in the light of the proposed regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001(1) regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, to develop greater transparency and access to documents;

Growth and Jobs

25.  Calls on the Commission to illustrate through which measures the goals regarding employment in the Lisbon Treaty can be achieved;

Economic and Monetary placeUnion

26.  Believes that the major priorities concern measures to overcome the deficits that the current financial crisis exposed:

SMEs

27.  Underlines that small and medium-sized enterprises have created most new jobs; expects the Commission to come up with new proposals as to how these small and medium-sized enterprises can be further supported in the creation of more new jobs;

28.  Underlines the importance of stimulating the entrepreneurship spirit and to cut cross-border red tape obstacles; calls for easier access at reasonable costs for SMEs to European standards, tax incentives and better financing for big SMEs;

Innovation and Research

29.  Recalls that research and technological development are essential to promoting sustainable development and innovation, ensuring that Europe remains a competitive, prosperous and knowledge-based society; urges the Commission to promote the first evaluation of the implementation of the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7); calls on the Commission to start the operational implementation of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology, which should help to bridge the innovation gap between the EU and its major competitors through strategic research and education;

Intellectual Property

30.  Strongly believes that creative ideas resulting in inventions and innovations help to guarantee Europe's economic strength and technological progress; recognises the need, therefore, for an adequate level of intellectual property rights protection at European and international level; underlines the need for an early agreement on the initiative towards an affordable, secure and efficient patent system which would also give incentives for investment and research efforts;

Energy Policy

31.  Strongly supports the Commission in further developing an energy policy for Europe, with the aim of achieving energy independence and strengthening the solidarity among Member States; urges the Council and the Commission to find with the European Parliament an effective and workable agreement on the energy and climate change package in the shortest practicable time, before the end of the legislature term; invites the Commission to provide, as soon as possible, the best and most objective analysis of the possible economic and social implications of rising energy prices, in order to guide the legislative decision-making process in Parliament and the Council in the best possible way; notes also that the European Union needs to continue to demonstrate that economic growth and development can be reconciled in a low-carbon economy; recalls, moreover, the need to ensure that environment and climate change objectives are included in all EU policies and financial programmes;

Transport Policy

32.  Welcomes the Commission's key priorities as regards the transport sector and especially the envisaged actions for the implementation of the traffic management systems like SESAR (Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research) and ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System), which will contribute to a safer and more efficient European Transport Policy;

33.  Urges the Commission to develop and propose, and possibly to revise and implement, a comprehensive passengers' rights policy ranging from air passengers to long-distance coach passengers;

Internal Market

34.  Highlights the importance of an effective EU public procurement regime and, in particular, points to the potential of pre-commercial public procurement to stimulate growth and innovation in placeEurope;

35.  Welcomes the fact that several new 'approach directives' are being amended to modernise the Single Market for goods, aligning it with the New Legislative Framework; all these are mentioned as key actions in the APS, which has been proven by an extremely expedient adoption of the 'goods package' early in 2008; considers, in this connection, that the importance of mutual recognition combined with targeted harmonisation in the internal market must be highlighted, as well as more systematic and integrated monitoring of key goods and services markets with a view to identify existing problems; notes the importance of the early adoption of the Construction Products Directive, a challenging opportunity to ensure the proper functioning of the Internal Market in the relevant sector;

36.  Asks the Commission for an update of the Directive on Agricultural and Forestry Tractors, as already requested by Parliament, that will take into account the latest developments in the sector and reduce the bureaucracy burden;

Climate change and Sustainable placeEurope

Climate Change

37.  Asks the Commission, in the context of its ongoing negotiations with the UNFCCC, to continue to prepare the ground for an ambitious global climate agreement at the COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009; considers that the preparations should also include the promotion of the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) as a template for emissions trading, with a view to linking other emissions trading systems to the EU ETS in the future and driving a competitive international carbon market; the Commission shall inform Parliament of the progress of these preparations;

38.  Asks the Commission to launch the necessary processes aimed at fully taking into account climate-change consequences for all the existing environmental policies e.g. water, lifecycle eco-labelling, biodiversity, civil security and to define on this basis a strategy with the view to preparing efficiently the future of EU environment policy; asks the Commission to assess the possibilities of creating an efficient internal market for renewable energy;

Civil Protection

39.  Deplores the fact that the Council, after blocking the relevant dossier for two years, decided to abandon the new EU Solidarity Fund Regulation, despite Parliament's strong and very positive stance on this matter; reiterates its view that the new EUSF regulation is in a position to address damage caused by natural or manmade disasters in a more effective, flexible and timely manner; urges the Council, in the light of the above, to reconsider its position;

Agriculture

40.  Expects Parliament's position to be fully respected amid the negotiations on the CAP 'Health Check' to be agreed in 2008 and implemented in 2009 and demands that the results of this process contribute to a vibrant EU agricultural sector and one that is better equipped to deal with the twin challenges of climate change and the need to feed an expanding world population;

41.  Welcomes the Commission's intention to publish a Communication in 2009 on animal welfare labelling with the aim of providing better information to consumers and promoting the EU's high standards;

Fisheries Policy

42.  Supports the continuous development of a new and truly integrated European maritime policy which is necessary and essential in order to strengthen the protection of the marine environment; however, regrets the absence, in the document, of a specific section regarding the Common Fisheries Policy and aquaculture and underlines that the preparatory activities related to the maritime policy should not be financed out of the resources foreseen for the Common Fisheries Policy, since these resources are already largely insufficient; moreover fully supports the temporary specific action aiming to promote the restructuring of the EU fishing fleets affected by the economic crisis;

43.  Considers that it is absolutely necessary, as from now, to begin preparing for the transition towards the new treaty in order to guarantee proper implementation of the new proceedings and the respect of the new inter-institutional relationship; considers, in this context, that transparent, honest and rigorous planning of the proposals and of the actions planned for 2008 and 2009 is a must;

Cohesion Policy

44.  Eagerly awaits a number of important communications in 2009 that will be central to the debate on the future reform of cohesion policy, like the 6th Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion and the EC communication on the results of the public consultation following the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion; stresses the need to reserve a prominent place to such communications in the LWP 2009, even if they are not of legislative nature, that will better reflect their increased political importance;

Cultural Identity and Diversity

45.  Asks the Commission to provide wider support for the programmes and actions by implementing innovative projects in the field of cultural and educational exchange, cultural tourism and sustainable development with full participation of the regions and the local authorities, like the Cultural itineraries of the Council of Europe and encouraging new initiatives taken to emphasize and promote the cultural heritage of the Romas;

46.  Reiterates the importance of the implementation of UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity in the EU-law and in all EU policies and suggests taking concrete steps and measures for the transposition of the Convention;

47.  Calls for the establishment of a European forum for intercultural dialogue that will continue the intercultural dialogue practices in Europe and with other cultures and religions around the world; encourages the Commission to continue the promotion of the idea of the European year of intercultural dialogue 2008;

Making the Common Immigration Policy a Reality

Border Protection

48.  Stresses that border protection is also a priority, and will, in this context, scrutinise the recent proposals for an EU passenger name record, a European Boarder Surveillance System and entry/exit and Frontex evaluation, while insisting on respect for strong data protection rules;

49.  Underlines that it is of the utmost importance to speed up the full implementation of the Schengen Information System (SIS II) and the Visa Information System (VIS); also underlines the need to strengthen Frontex, which is dependent on a commitment by Member States to provide personnel and equipment;

Immigration 

50.  Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to the development of a common immigration policy, and emphasises that a European pact on migration policy should cover issues linked both to tackling illegal immigration and managing legal immigration, and a more ambitious policy on integration of areas falling within the EU’s competence, as well as launching a European asylum policy on the basis of proposals to be presented by the Commission before the end of the year; considers it a priority that Regulation (EC) No http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=en&type_doc=Regulation&an_doc=2003&nu_doc=343343/2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national (Dublin II Regulation) should be revisited;

Putting the Citizen First

Consumer Protection

51.  Highlights the importance of the enforcement of consumer product safety rules, underpinned by the proper implementation of the Goods package and the revision of the Toys safety directive;

52.  Believes that new actions by the Commission should take more in account the capability of citizens to be self-responsible and mature enough to make individual choices; strongly believes that an European open society model is better than an assistantship based one;

53.  Is convinced that combating counterfeiting will further ensure the high quality and safety of products offered to European consumers; asks the Commission, therefore, to focus on improving warning systems between European airports, as well as strengthening the scanning capacity with regard to unloading capacity of ships;

54.  Believes that the revision of the Consumer Acquis should further strengthen consumers' confidence in the Single Market; therefore, supports easy and effective access to justice, especially through out-of-court resolutions of disputes, backed as a last resort by judicial remedies; highlights that much can be done by improving existing redress mechanisms, and stepping up cooperation between Member States;

Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ)

55.  Calls on the Commission to consider what transitional arrangements should be put in place for the adoption of legislation relating to justice and home affairs pending the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty; underlines that in 2009 the Lisbon Treaty will institute a new role for Parliament in connection with Area of Freedom, Security and Justice policies and the conclusion of international agreements relating to those policies; stresses that this implies a revision of some legislation relating to the existing pillar structure, as well as a review of the status of Europol and Eurojust;

Terrorism and Organised Crime

56.  Calls for more work to be undertaken as regards tackling organised crime, addressing cyber-crime in particular, and urges the Commission to step up the momentum in addressing the scourge of trafficking in human beings; calls for counter-terrorism policies to be defined comprehensively, and urges the Commission to submit a proposal that safeguards and promotes the interests of the victims of terrorism, and to develop proposals to ensure a greater degree of bio-preparedness;

Equal opportunities, Gender Mainstreaming and Children's Rights

57.  Welcomes the Commission’s proposal regarding the rights of children and their protection; notes that the Commission's strategy regarding gender mainstreaming policy is very general; expects the Commission, therefore, to set out, as a matter of urgency, the details of the initiatives to be launched in 2009; calls on the Commission to ensure that Daphne III comes into force in due time;

Health

58.  Stresses that, as set out in the Treaty of Amsterdam, impact assessments provided by the Commission should always take account of the health impact of proposed Community action; considers that this will contribute to an integrated approach and to the improvement of synergies between health policy and the other EU policies; believes such assessments should be as independent as is compatible with the use of available expertise; urges the Commission to define health indicators in order to ensure that data are comparable and useable at the EU level, nationally and at the international level;

59.  Reiterates firmly that counterfeiting of medicines is a major health threat and an urgent problem of European and International concern, which should be treated as part of a general fight against counterfeit products;

Food Safety

60.  Underlines the need to enhance the labelling of food products, especially with regard to the country of origin and/or the place of provenance, and that this should be accompanied by provisions aimed at monitoring the implementation of those requirements;

Audiovisual and Sports

61.  Stresses the importance of legislation on content online which needs to strike a careful balance between cultural and economic requirements and especially the copyright issues and its measures which are necessary to respect cultural diversity;

62.  Stresses the importance of sport in the EU, which is officially recognised in the new reforming Treaty, and asks for political commitments including a legal framework, measures and actions, in particular preparatory actions, in order to start the implementation process of the 'Pierre de Coubertin' action plan;

placeEurope as a World Partner

63.  Calls on the Commission to pursue efforts to establish a EU common foreign energy policy in order to ensure that Europe enjoys energy security and speaks with one voice vis-à-vis EU suppliers; looks to the Commission to take all appropriate measures to facilitate the implementation of the Nabucco project, regarded as the one of the most critical projects of European interest;

64.  Believes that the revision of the European Security Strategy should refer also to energy (supply) security, climate change, food security;

65.  Believes that the LWP should also underline the EU role in development cooperation in the world; stresses that the LWP should include a coherent and structural approach for the situation of food insecurity, emphasizing not only short term food aid but also the need to stimulate agricultural production and agricultural policy in the developing world;

66.  Regrets that the Commission makes no specific reference to its plan of action in 2009 for the implementation of the Joint EU Africa Strategy, the promised Aid for Trade programme, the EPA negotiations, and the impact of climate change on developing countries; reminds the Commission that its ambitions on Policy Coherence for Development should be maintained throughout 2009 and that the latest ODA figures released by the OECD/DAC in 2007 indicate a serious decline in ODA contributions by Member States; believes the Commission should plan redressing this in 2009 to ensure that Europe stays on track to reach the 0.7% GDI by 2015;

European Neighbourhood

67.  Underlines the importance of concluding the accession negotiations with country-regionplaceCroatia as soon as possible, also as a signal to the wider Western Balkans region that its future lies within the EU, provided that it can meet the necessary requirements;

68.  Calls on the Commission to support the incorporation of a parliamentary dimension into the neighbourhood-east policy through the establishment of a EURO-NEST Assembly, bringing together MEPs and MPs from the neighbourhood-east countries;

The Wider World

69.  Notes that a new US administration will be in place from January 2009; recalls the critical importance of the EU working closely together with the US on major global challenges such as climate change and energy security; requests the Commission should make it a top priority to take urgent contact with the incoming US administration in order to strengthen transatlantic partnership in the months ahead;

70.  Underlines the importance of a strong relationship with Japan and the Republic of Korea, based on common values, as important partners in the global economy; points out that further development of relations with North Korea will also depend on the implementation of the results of the six-party talks;

71.  Believes that Economic Partnership Agreements with ACP countries should be concluded early on and EPA interim agreements should be changed into full-fledged agreements in 2009, with all ACP Regions; underlines also the importance of concluding the negotiation of the association agreements with Central America, the Andean Community and Mercosur in order to give to the whole Latin American region a full perspective of Association with the EU;

72.  Underlines that the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty will make Parliament a co-legislator in trade matters, and that this will require Parliament to be fully informed and involved in the process of negotiating and adopting bilateral, regional and multilateral trade agreements;

73.  Recalls Parliament's role in ensuring that the European External Action Service is 'up and running' when the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, e.g. with regard to nominating EU Ambassadors;

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

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.