Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-08-Speech-2-172"
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"en.20030408.5.2-172"2
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".
Mr President, both my colleague, Mrs Diamantopoulou, and myself are going to give you full information on the broad guidelines for economic and employment policy.
This afternoon, the Commission has just decided to adopt its recommendation for the employment guidelines for 2003-2005. It focuses on the contribution economic policies can make to the Union's strategic objective established in Lisbon. The economic policy guidelines form part of a coordinated package of guidelines, together with the employment guidelines, which will be presented by my colleague, Mrs Diamantopoulou.
Within the context of rationalisation, and in response to the request from the Spring European Council in Brussels, the economic policy guidelines have experienced a series of changes. They are more concise and they focus on the key questions of economic policy; their general section has been drastically reduced, as well as the number of guidelines they contain, but, nevertheless, they are still exhaustive and they still deal with all the economic problems, though in a more condensed manner.
With regard to the guidelines by country, these are now clearly structured in accordance with the great specific economic policy challenges of each country. This also allows greater attention to be paid to the essential issues of economic policy. Furthermore, the specific guidelines are explicitly linked to the general guidelines, from which they stem. Finally, a specific section is added on the euro zone and the challenges it is faced with.
This approach, however, does not represent a radical break with the past, since the basic strategy implemented over recent years, particularly since Lisbon, is still valid. While confirming these strategies, the economic policy guidelines insist on the need for macroeconomic policies to maintain stability and support growth in order to decisively achieve economic reforms and in order to guarantee that growth is sustainable in the face of economic, environmental and social changes.
I will not deal with these three issues in detail. I will restrict myself to making a few comments on each of them. With regard to macroeconomic policies, the current uncertain economic situation makes it essential that policies inspire confidence. Macroeconomic policies must be geared towards the need to promote short-term growth and at the same time preserve macroeconomic stability. In relation to budgetary policy, this means that flexibility must be combined with a credible adjustment. Wherever possible, automatic stabilisers will have to operate fully, but we must also continue to make progress on reducing deficits. These guiding principles respond to the agreement on the strengthening of the coordination of budgetary policies laid down in the Commission's Communication last November. In particular, the need to reduce, where necessary, structural deficits by at least half a point of GDP is included in it. Furthermore, it is important that wage evolution is compatible with price stability and increases in productivity, in order to re-establish the profit margins needed to promote the expansion of employment-generating investment.
With regard to the second point – promoting growth potential – the economic policy guidelines duly recognise the need for structural reforms. If one thing demonstrates the Union's weakness in the face of a global slowdown, it is undoubtedly the need to further strengthen our economy’s capacity for growth and its resistance to shocks. In order to stimulate job creation, the Member States must improve the combined effect of social security taxes, acting both by means of tax rates and of criteria for the provision of social security services. They must promote a more flexible organisation of work, revise labour legislation and make appropriate efforts on education and training. We must also facilitate the mobility of the workforce by promoting the recognition of pension and social security rights. Naturally, these measures must be supplemented with active labour market measures in order to assist in job-finding. The broad guidelines also propose measures to promote competition in the products and capital markets, which stimulate entrepreneurial spirit as well as the transition to a knowledge-based economy. In order to improve the funding conditions and, in particular, access to funding for small and medium-sized businesses, the capital risk action plan must be fully applied before the end of the year. Furthermore, recent events have demonstrated the need for better rules on the management of companies and for appropriate financial supervision.
Finally, with regard to sustainability, the guidelines deal with long-term sustainability of public funds bearing in mind, above all, the problem of the ageing of the population. Pension reform must be aimed at improving financial sustainability, promoting longer working lives and removing the incentives for early retirements, in order to make more flexible models for professional and employment development possible. In accordance with November's Communication, the guidelines reflect the consensus that we must do more to deal with public debt and to guarantee that it continues to decrease. In relation to environmental sustainability, the guidelines maintain that economic growth must not be at the expense of the environment. It is therefore necessary to combine the legislative instruments with others based on the market. To this end, the Member States will have to reduce subsidies, tax exemptions and other incentives which have a negative impact on the environment.
Finally, it also deals with economic policies’ contribution to social sustainability. Employment is the best means of protection against poverty and exclusion, and job creation depends on there being favourable conditions for activity and investment in the private sector. The Member States must take the necessary measures to improve the functioning of the labour market and to allow salaries to reflect differences in productivity. The Commission has established this strategy in a clear way. By doing this we are attempting to be as firm as possible with regard to compliance, placing more emphasis on this element."@en1
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