REPORT on the Situation of the European economy: preparatory report on the broad economic policy guidelines for 2006

23.3.2006 - (2006/2047(INI))

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Rapporteur: José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

on the Situation of the European economy: preparatory report on the broad economic policy guidelines for 2006

(2006/2047(INI))

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission's Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005-2008) (COM(2005)0141) (the Integrated Guidelines),

- having regard to Article 99(2) of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to the Commission's Economic Policy Committee's Special Report No 4/2005, 'The 2005 EPC projections of age-related expenditure (2004-2050) for the EU25 Member States: underlying assumptions and projection methodologies',

- having regard to the 25 Member States' Lisbon National Reform programmes for growth and jobs 2005-8,

- having regard to the Commission's Annual Progress Report (APR) on the Lisbon Strategy of 25 January 2006,

- having regard to its resolutions of 15 May 2003[1] and 22 April 2004[2] on the Commission recommendation on the Broad Guidelines for the Economic Policies of the Member States and the Community (for the 2003-2005 period) (COM(2003)0170) and its resolution of 26 May 2005[3],

- having regard to the Council Presidency's Key Issues Paper for the ECOFIN Council in view of the Spring European Council of 7 February 2006,

- having regard to the Commission’s Economic forecasts[4], ,

- having regard to Articles III-179 and III-206 of the Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, signed on 29 October 2004 (Constitutional Treaty),

- having regard to the Commission White Paper, 'European Transport Policy for 2010: Time to Decide' (COM(2001)0370),

- having regard to the Commission Non-Paper of 7 July 2004 on a common consolidated EU corporate tax base,

- having regard to The European Charter for Small Enterprises, approved by the Feira European Council on 19 and 20 June 2000 (SME Charter),

- having regard to the Code of Conduct on Direct Business Taxation, endorsed by the ECOFIN Council on 1 December 1997,

- having regard to the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA),

- having regard to the Presidency Conclusions of the Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000, the Göteborg European Council of 15 and 16 June 2001, the Barcelona European Council of 15 and 16 March 2002, and the Brussels European Councils of 20 and 21 March 2003, 25 and 26 March 2004, and 22 and 23 March 2005,

- having regard to the report of of November 2004 by the Commission's High Level Group chaired by Wim Kok, ‘Facing the Challenge - The Lisbon strategy for growth and employment’,

- having regard to Rule 45 of the Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A6-0077/2006),

A.  Whereas a considerable number of recommendations formulated in the Parliament's last three reports on the BEPGs have not been taken on board; whereas new and significant factors have arisen since the adoption of the Parliament's latest report; whereas many of the previously identified long-term challenges have acquired a new urgency; whereas the EU's economy continues to experience slower growth than its main competitors and seems less well prepared for globalisation,

B.   Whereas globalisation is a revolutionary phenomenon that questions our conventional use of available resources, allows emerging economies to import capital, skills and technology and to compete in an increasingly interconnected world, increases migratory flows, changes the traditional patterns of international trade, and gives the financial economy an unprecedented importance over the real economy; whereas the importance of the financial economy makes 'confidence' a key factor and creates a new need for efficient supervision and closer cooperation in order to guarantee economic stability;

C.  Whereas the following new significant factors have arisen since the Parliament's last report on the broad economic policy guidelines (BEPGs) was adopted in May 2005: difficulties concerning the ratification of Constitutional Treaty; the adoption by the European Council of the EU's 2007-2013 Financial Perspective without the agreement of the Parliament; the two first interest rate rises by the ECB in over 5 years; the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact with 12 Member States having budget deficits of over 3%; the adoption of the Member States' Lisbon National Reform programmes; a raised awareness of the world-wide energy shock and related geopolitical tensions; the negotiations concerning Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia's wish to join the euro zone in 2007; and the need to boost the Doha WTO rounds priorities after the slowdown of negotiations in Hong Kong;

D.  Whereas the relative decline of the European economy can be linked to: an inappropriate regulatory framework combined with a lack of structural reform, which renders our economy less flexible than those of our main competitors, stagnant domestic demand, a lack of business dynamism and weak labour markets as a result of slow demographic growth, low employment rates, and poor productivity growth; whereas poor productivity growth is caused by a lack of investment, insufficient innovation and the misalignment of labour supply and demand on account of the incapacity of our poorly financed educational and training systems to adapt our workers to an ever-shifting world;

E.   Whereas, moreover, since the adoption of the Parliament's last report, the following challenges have gained greater recognition: the ever-increasing ageing of the population; migratory tensions at the EU's borders and internal problems because of insufficient assistance for the integration of second-generation immigrant populations; the exponential growth of third-country imports in some sectors as well as business delocalisation and outsourcing; an increasing demand for resources such as crude oil, natural gas, coal and iron by China and other emerging economies; increasing EU dependence on energy imports coming from unstable regions; and risks caused by global macroeconomic imbalances;

1.   Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to adopt those recommendations included in the Parliament's last three reports on the BEPGs but not yet taken on board, namely, the transposition of the internal market directives; the adoption of deficit-reducing measures by Member States with excessive deficits; a common communication policy on citizens' insecurity as regards globalisation; a structural reform action plan listing the obstacles to tackle, the actions to take, and a time line; the full implementation of the SME Charter, in particular a more favourable tax regime and more investment in research and innovation;

2.   Welcomes the Key Issues paper for the Ecofin Council and supports the Commission’s choice in focusing on four fundamental areas (knowledge and innovation; business potential; globalisation and demographic change; and an efficient energy market), which should be implemented through the Integrated Guidelines on Growth and Employment; moreover, shares the view that higher and sustainable growth in our economies will only come about through the mutual reinforcement of stability and growth-oriented macro-economic policies and structural reforms, including more effective economic coordination; welcomes the Commission's intention to propose a roadmap outlining the steps required and key dates for the completion of these four actions by the end of 2007;

Institutional reforms

3.   Believes that the ongoing period of reflection on the Constitutional Treaty should tackle: the current framework of macroeconomic governance, such as it was already discussed by the Convention's Economic Governance Group; the economic and social objectives of the EU; the extension of co-decision procedures to economic policy issues; the responsibility of the ECB, while respecting its independence; the co-ordination of economic policies and the role of the Eurogroup in this context; the procedure to handle excessive deficits; the competence of the EU in tax matters; the implementation of a call-back right for the EP in the context of the comitology procedure by 1 April 2008 at the latest; and the representation of the euro zone within international institutions;

4.   Welcomes the merger in the Commission's Integrated Guidelines of the BEPGs and Employment Guidelines but considers that the Commission's APR on the Lisbon process and other documents linked to the Open Method of Coordination should also be combined and debated together; believes that the BEPGs must be given the same legislative status as the Employment Guidelines and that the roles of the Parliament and the Commission need to be redefined;

5.   Asks the Commission to investigate the feasibility of adopting EC legislation in order to achieve a uniform definition of tax residence - applicable to EU residents within and outside the EU - linked to the concept of citizenship of the EU; an intra-EU European Convention on double taxation (mirroring Article 293 of the EC Treaty); and the inclusion in EC law of the principle of non-discrimination with regard to taxation as defined in the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities;

6.   Welcomes the obligation that Member States now have to present annual National Reform Programmes (NRPs) structured around the 24 Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs 2005-2008; considers that economic performance in this regard could be further improved if the Commission identified and promoted best practices derived from NRPs and by establishing a yearly ranking of best/worst performing countries, as proposed by the High Level Group of Independent Experts chaired by Wim Kok; calls for a deeper analysis of the structural reform policies of the last decade in order to clarify the reasons for ongoing slow growth and insufficient productivity; calls for a ‘smart growth strategy’, bringing together the EU’s fragmented economic policy approaches into a coherent strategy, in order to strengthen the EU’s potential with respect to a new generation of products and production methods, integrating information and communication technologies and resource-efficient technologies for sustainable development;

7.   Regrets that the December 2005 European Council agreement on the Financial Perspective is less ambitious than Parliament's proposal, particularly as it focuses on traditional polices and not enough on those that provide added value to citizens; deplores the reduction in commitments for research and science as well as competitiveness and growth, SMEs, citizenship, freedom, justice and external actions; asks the Council to renegotiate with Parliament an agreement that reinforces the EU's prosperity, competitiveness, employment and cohesion;

8.   Calls on the Member States to implement speedily and accurately the NRPs, involving national parliaments and interested stakeholders, such as the social partners, and to provide timely information to the Parliament, the Council, and the Commission; invites the Council and the Commission to establish, together with the Parliament, a Code of Conduct to allow a scrupulous joint follow-up of these programmes;

Macro-economic, monetary and fiscal policy

9.   Calls on the Commission to adhere to a strict interpretation of the renewed Stability and Growth Pact, not allowing the use of temporary measures or creative accounting; urges Member States to foster competitiveness and to pursue an annual improvement in their cyclically adjusted budget deficits and to ensure higher adjustment efforts in economically prosperous times; believes that wage increases should be consistent with the trend in productivity over the medium term; calls for a moderate and responsible pricing policy, in particular in cases of monopolistic or oligopolistic markets, which dampens inflationary pressures and keeps interest rates down at levels that do not endanger the current economic recovery;

10. Urges Member States to make additional efforts to reduce public debt burdens and improve the quality of their public finances, which will lead to fewer resources being used on interest payments and amortisation and more on education, vocational training, infrastructure, and research and innovation; underlines that, consistent with ensuring financial stability, there is an overriding need for a general review of taxation in Member States in order to strengthen competitiveness, which implies constrained and/or more efficient public spending;

11. Notes that low economic growth, excessive debt and high unemployment dramatically increase the problems resulting from demographic change; therefore underlines that the full implementation of the Lisbon Strategy to create an inclusive, high-employment, high-productivity society is essential in order to face this challenge successfully; calls on the Commission to launch a major debate in order to identify best practices and the most profitable methods to manage the forthcoming developments;

12. Points out that the imbalances in certain euro zone countries are particularly alarming given the size of the trade deficits and the observed inflation differential of some of them and calls on the Member States to adopt the economic policies necessary to remedy matters, stressing the need for a budget policy capable of off-setting the ill effects of these imbalances;

13. Calls on the Member States to refrain from harmful, exaggerated cross-border tax competition that reduces budgetary capabilities for public investment in tangible and intangible assets;

Business environment

14. Calls for the promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit - understood as the possibility of putting a business idea into practice - within Member States' secondary education systems by reinforcing the entrepreneur's role in society and stressing the importance of concepts like corporate governance and corporate social responsibility;

15. Calls on the Commission to apply the principle of affirmative action in favour of SMEs, and to take steps to help to: create companies electronically; appropriately simplify the regulatory environment; promote SME access to finance during the first years of existence via Risk Capital or 'Business Angel' formulas: enhance the roles of the EIB and EIF; increase SME access to ITC, acknowledging that the gap in competitiveness between the EU and the USA is found not only in high-technology sectors but also in distribution channels and the retail sector; promote structures of cooperation and foster their internationalisation by adopting the proposed 14th company law directive on the cross-border transfer of limited companies’ registered offices and by discussing the added value of a future statute of a European private company for SMEs;

16. Recalls its backing for the Code of Conduct on Direct Business Taxation, under which Member States agreed to terminate harmful tax competition; supports the Commission’s Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base proposal; urges the Council to conclude an agreement on the Commission proposals to simplify VAT obligations; supports efforts to simplify and reduce taxation as stated in the SME Charter; in this regard, supports the Commission's recent Home State Taxation scheme for SMEs and invites the Commission to study the possibility of changing the principle of place of destination by the principle of place of origin with regard to VAT due by these companies, including fair revenue-sharing rules;

17. Strongly recommends that the NRPs deal with planned and existing measures in order to reduce red tape and regulatory obstacles for SMEs, and to highlight decisions at local, regional, and national level, which could serve as benchmarks for other Member States’ authorities;

18. Calls on the Member States and their local and regional authorities to develop a common scheme for evaluating the distributive and regional effects of their taxation scheme and the subsidies granted by them, given the fact that tax policies at local, regional, national and EU level are often not coordinated, and recalls the increasingly important role of local communities for the economic, social and political wellbeing of the EU;

19. Believes that the elimination of export quotas has profoundly changed international trade, obliging policymakers to react against unfair competition from third countries, namely by fighting counterfeiting and protecting intellectual and industrial property rights; therefore calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish an efficient EU patent system through a Community patent and other appropriate instruments;

Employment and human capital

20. Believes that to improve the ratio of the working age population over the total population, it is necessary: to adopt ambitious birth rate policies; to improve child-care facilities; to promote schemes seeking to improve the work-life balance; to integrate immigrants into the labour market and to combat illegal immigration by strategies promoting sustainable development in third countries as well as by the implementation of a common EU-wide immigration policy; and to set up incentives to encourage workers to delay voluntary retirement;

21. Emphasises the potential that 'flexicurity' (flexibility and security) has for increasing labour market participation, in particular that of women, older workers, young people, the long-term unemployed, and immigrants;

22. Considers that in order to increase the ratio of the employed population over the population of a working age, it is necessary to adopt measures specifically aimed at groups having difficulties in accessing the labour market, namely, young people, women, people over the age of 55, and the disabled, to develop a life-cycle approach to work and working time, which is highly respectful of individual needs and, in particular, to set up incentives to encourage older workers to offer their work experience; therefore, invites Member States, together with the social partners, to promote measures aimed at adapting labour relations and working time to the special needs of these social groups;

23. Considers that to discourage the black economy it is necessary to reduce non-wage labour costs, especially for low-skilled jobs; in this context, welcomes the Council's decision to extend the reduced VAT scheme to labour-intensive services and suggests that the Commission be given a mandate to launch a new study on how reduced VAT rates influence the prices of taxed services, the reduction of the shadow economy, and overall tax revenues, including contributions to social insurance systems;

24. Stresses that Europe’s sluggish growth rates reflect the dearth of effective measures to reduce unemployment, increase the active population, and boost low productivity;

25. Calls on the Commission to bear in mind that EC legislation should be compatible with that of our competitors in order not to have a negative effect on the competitive position of the EU and the innovative potential of EU businesses on the global market;

26. Believes that to improve the quality of education, and given that in years to come many children of immigrants with relatively low levels of education will enter the school system, it is necessary to: increase the supply of places in primary schools; improve the knowledge of foreign languages, mathematics and sciences in primary and secondary education in the light of our underperformance compared with our competitors, as highlighted in the OECD's PISA report; achieve an integrated model of professional training through the ongoing updating of knowledge;

27. Calls on the Member States to adopt measures to improve the mobility of researchers and to provide a better infrastructure in order to attract more students to scientific careers; furthermore, calls for measures to equip Europe's universities to match the highest standards of research, to strengthen cooperation between universities and the industrial and commercial sectors, to adapt educational supply to labour market demand, emphasising qualifications in engineering and high-technology, and to ensure a better communication, diffusion and application of the outcome of research;

28. Believes that EU and Member State budgets should better reflect the priorities of the Lisbon Strategy by reinforcing the EU's capacity for innovation and research and by expanding lifelong learning efforts, including the use of additional financial resources;

Infrastructures, transport and energy

29. Believes that underinvestment is one of the causes that explains our difference in competitiveness compared to that of the USA, and thus calls on Member States to encourage private investment and to refocus investment expenditure on those investments that enhance economic efficiency and productivity, such as infrastructure, R&D, education, lifelong learning, sport, and use of resources, as well as to reform their taxation systems to foster growth and private investment in new sustainable technologies;

30. Urges Member States to adhere strictly to execution deadlines of transport infrastructure projects (Trans-European Networks), by simplifying appropriate administrative procedures, and devoting, if necessary, more investment, given that, at the current speed, such projects will take 20 years to complete, according to the Commission's White Paper on Transport;

31. Urges Member States to decide on a new coherent EU energy policy during the 2006 Spring European Council, with three main objectives: securing energy supply, sustainable development, and economic competitiveness; therefore, suggests, first, a common action to reinforce political and economic links with supplier countries as well as to create an EU internal energy market with a proper and non-discriminatory competitive environment for energy suppliers and distributors, second, setting a balance between internal and external sources of supply, third, focusing on avoiding double price/exchange rate volatility by invoicing commodities and energy supplies in euros, fourth, improving energy efficiency, and fifth, phasing out oil dependency by stepping up the EU's research aiming at the achievement of a new sustainable energy regime based on wind, hydro, biomass, solar and geothermal energy;

Innovation and R&D

32. Believes that competition from emerging countries' imports and the temptation by businesses to outsource activities can only be fought with the support of an enormous research and innovation effort; calls on the Commission to table proposals regarding the financing of research within the EU; calls on Member States to allocate more resources to research and innovation while guaranteeing the efficient protection of intellectual property rights, and to establish tax incentives for businesses and universities investing in R&D, knowing that, compared with direct subsidies, such incentives better guarantee that public resources will be used to support successful ventures;

33. Believes that a coordinated EU innovation policy is one of the main cornerstones of wealth creation, growth and jobs, strengthens the EU’s competitiveness, and contributes to achieving the overall policy aim of sustainable development;

More competition and reform of services markets

34. Believes in a robust competition policy; asks for a revision of the allocation criteria for competition cases between the national competition authorities and the Commission, as well as a renewal of national legislation in order to guarantee: legal security; the political independence of regulators; transparency and responsibility; and coherence with EC law;

35. Observes that it is essential to achieve a single European services market in accordance with the EC Treaty, so as to underpin a sector which is vital to the European economy as a whole, and in particular the economic development of the new Member States;

36. Welcomes the Commission's State Aid Action Plan and believes that more transparent and effective State aid can benefit the EU, particularly with regard to innovation and R&D; at the same time, believes that tax incentives need also to be revised insofar as they are an alternative to grants or direct subsidies;

37. Calls for a forward-looking financial services agenda focusing on: achieving a Single Euro Payments Area by 2010; a review of insurance solvency (Solvency II); a proposal on cross-border banking mergers to facilitate consolidation and avoid home/host supervisor conflicts; a proposal on mortgage credit; and the adoption of the consumer credit directive;

38. Considers that, in an integrated financial market, and given how quickly companies change headquarters, the exponential growth of international capital flows and the speed at which investments are made, efficient supervision and close cooperation among the regulatory and supervisory bodies of different Member States are indispensable, notwithstanding the convenience of further reflecting on the most appropriate EU supervisory, regulatory and control model for banking, insurance and securities;

o
o   o

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

• [1]  OJ C 67 E, 17.3.2004, p. 295.
• [2]  OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 1061.
• [3]  Text adopted, P6_TA(2005)0209.
• [4]  Autumn 2005, No 5/2005.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Discussions on the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPGs) have a long tradition in this house, as long as the list of recommendations that the Council, the Commission and the Member States have not taken on board. The mere fact that Parliament has to make mention of these breaches justifies the need for a new report, despite the Commission having decided to leave last year's Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs 2005-2008 unchanged.

But furthermore it is also obvious that since our last discussion on the Goebbels report in 2005, new important factors have arisen and must be commented on. The stillborn Constitutional Treaty limits itself to a recast of existing provisions in the economic and social sphere. The Austrian Presidency's intention of reopening a reflection period on the text puts Parliament in a situation where we are also obliged to give thought to these matters. The agreement on the Financial Perspectives, currently under negotiation, establishes a new budgetary framework that necessarily affects the BEPGs; all the more so given that it was decided at Hampton Court to undertake a fundamental review of the Union's budget within a very limited time framework. The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates for the first time in more than five years and therefore the monetary context in which this report is discussed is clearly different from the previous year. The current budgetary environment also differs as today we are discussing the economic guidelines in the context of a renewed Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). For the first time we also have on the table the National Reform Plans which try to summarize progress made in our path towards the fulfilment of the Lisbon goals. All these reasons more than justify the need for a parliamentary report at the current juncture.

Since the Goebbels report was adopted, some previously detected themes have gained even greater awareness amongst the public and policy-makers: the ageing of the population, the consequences of globalisation, and the energy crisis that threatens to get out of hand if tensions with producer countries continue to worsen.

· Recently published studies (especially the Commission's European Economy Special Report No. 4/2005), describe well the threats to the European Welfare State, or in other words, the future difficulties to finance it: in the years to come, population growth will be slow and there will be less and less young people of working age and more people excluded from the labour market for reasons of age; the expenditure on pensions, health assistance and long-term care will require greater budgetary resources in order to take care of our eldest; Social Security contributions will not continue to grow at the current speed because on the one hand, there will be less and less young people joining the labour market and, on the other, contributions cannot go up if we still want to be competitive in the global economy.

· The consequences of the globalisation - diversification of production processes and the fact that corporations operate in different countries at the same time - are not new but have gained greater relevance this year. This Parliament has debated at length the issue of imports from emerging countries (textiles, footwear, etc.), the problem of delocalisation of companies and outsourcing, the needed adjustment of European agriculture to the new times or the impact of e-commerce and the Internet on the growth in services.

· The need to have economic growth compatible with the preservation the environment has also been in the Parliament's radar. Sustainable development is becoming more and more an overriding principle that must inspire all legislative fields, whether it is agriculture, economic policy, energy or transport; this is all the more relevant at the present moment on account of the increase in oil prices and the political instability inside many producer countries, both issues painfully highlighting the Union's excessive dependency on external non-renewable energy sources.

In all Community documents one can see the confirmation that the EU grows under its potential and indeed way under the United States. In these documents it is also confirmed that the EU is worse prepared than the United States, and in some respects worse than emerging countries such as China and India, to confront the challenges of the new era. However, these documents only seem to shift the responsibility to others: therefore, in your rapporteur's view, the time has come to clearly list all those obstacles that block our economic growth, to determine precisely what actions are needed to surmount them, and to define a clear and precise execution timetable.

The poor performance of the European economy has varied causes. However, most proposals and documents on the table seem to coincide that Europe suffers from over-regulation, which makes our economy less flexible than America's. They also coincide in that we have fewer companies which are world leaders than the United States and that our SMEs grow less in their first years than theirs. They coincide as well in that fact that our demographic growth is weaker, and that our employment rate and our labour productivity are lower. The latter is a consequence of having fewer infrastructures, dedicating fewer resources to public and private investments, not having enough innovation on technology and not devoting enough resources to education and vocational training.

In all our debates - and the Constitutional debate is a good example of this - we waste an enormous amount of energy discussing institutional or procedural issues; much more than we should be using to reflect on the causes of the relative decline of the European economy and on the remedies needed to reverse this tendency.

One of the main objectives of this report has been to avoid purely rhetorical statements and to focus on recommendations that have clear normative implications. Moreover, the report stresses those economic and social issues which your rapporteur believes should be included in the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. The European Parliament has to play an active role in the definition of economic policy in order to help Member States kick-start a period of economic growth and dynamism, as was agreed in Lisbon. The European Parliament, as the sole EU-wide institution elected by citizens, is the right forum to assess and analyze the strategies and measures implemented by Member States with a view to the achievement the Lisbon goals.

PROCEDURE

Title	Situation of the European economy: preparatory report on the broad economic policy guidelines for 2006
Procedure number	2006/2047(INI)
Committee responsible   Date authorisation announced in plenary	ECON 16.3.2006
Committee(s) asked for opinion(s)   Date announced in plenary	EMPL 16.3.2006
Not delivering opinion(s)   Date of decision	EMPL 15.3.2006
Enhanced cooperation   Date announced in plenary
Rapporteur(s)   Date appointed	José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil 16.11.2005
Previous rapporteur(s)
Discussed in committee	31.1.2006		20.2.2006		20.3.2006
Date adopted	21.3.2006
Result of final vote	+ - 0	38 2 2
Members present for the final vote	Zsolt László Becsey, Pervenche Berès, Sharon Bowles, Udo Bullmann, Ieke van den Burg, David Casa, Jan Christian Ehler, Jonathan Evans, Elisa Ferreira, José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Jean-Paul Gauzès, Robert Goebbels, Gunnar Hökmark, Karsten Friedrich Hoppenstedt, Sophia in 't Veld, Othmar Karas, Piia-Noora Kauppi, Wolf Klinz, Christoph Konrad, Guntars Krasts, Astrid Lulling, Gay Mitchell, Cristobal Montoro Romero, Joseph Muscat, John Purvis, Alexander Radwan, Bernhard Rapkay, Dariusz Rosati, Eoin Ryan, Antolín Sánchez Presedo, Manuel António dos Santos, Margarita Starkevičiūtė, Ivo Strejček.
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Katerina Batzeli, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Harald Ettl, Ján Hudacký, Alain Lipietz, Jules Maaten, Vladimír Maňka, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Corien Wortmann-Kool.
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present for the final vote
Date tabled	23.3.2006
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