The Week in Europe (15/09 - 21/09/2000)

The Week in Europe

(15/09 - 21/09/2000)

Talks consider competition in market for motor fuel

The Commission and Member States' competition authorities will consider how to ensure effective competition in the market for motor fuel, when they meet on 29 September. Commissioner Mario Monti said the meeting would explore ways in which EU and national competition law could contribute to a more competitive market for motor fuel. The most obvious route for applying competition rules would be to tackle any illicit cooperation between the oil companies in refining, marketing and distribution. National competition authorities have acted against price cartels in some countries. In the crude market, the Commission said it could envisage taking action against parallel pricing by multinational companies, but such cases were hard to prove. [Background text: MEMO/00/55]

· A European forum, with representatives from the sectors concerned, should examine all the factors affecting competitiveness in transport, the Transport Council on 20-21 September recommended.

Serbs urged to back democracy

The EU has called on the people of Serbia to seize the opportunity of their election on 24 September to vote for democratic change and turn their backs on the policy of Slobodan Milosevic. Such a move would lead to the EU lifting sanctions, support for economic and political reforms including aid for reconstruction and backing for reintegration into the international community, the General Affairs Council said on 19 September.

· Commissioner Chris Patten is visiting Kosovo, Sarajevo and Zagreb on 21-22 September, his fifth visit to the region since October 1999. [Background text: MEMO/00/56]

Opel fined 43m euro for sales block

The Commission has fined Opel Nederland 43m euro (1.5bn CzK) for obstructing sales of cars to people in other Member States. The Dutch importer of Opel cars, a subsidiary of General Motors, stopped people from abroad buying cars in the Netherlands, where pre-tax prices are often much lower than other EU countries, the Commission said on 20 September. It used a strategy of direct instructions and bonuses to curb export sales from its dealers between September 1996 and January 1998. Commissioner Mario Monti said that interfering with consumers' right to buy goods more cheaply in other Member States one of the benefits of the single market was a serious infringement of EU competition law. In July the European Court of Justice confirmed a 90m euro fine that the Commission imposed on Volkswagen for trying to prevent its Italian dealers from selling to consumers in Germany and Austria [Background text: IP/00/1028]

Market access for LDC exports

The world's 48 poorest countries should gain duty-free access to EU markets for all products except arms, the Commission proposed on 20 September. The EU is already the largest importer of goods from least developed countries (LDCs), taking 56% of their 8.7bn euro exports in 1998. Most products have free access, but the present system excludes around 10% of the 10,500 tariff lines and around 1% of trade flows. The proposal would extend free access (no duties or quotas) to 919 lines subject to tariffs under present EU schedules. For bananas, sugar and rice, the change would take effect in three stages. The new list excludes 25 arms-related tariff lines. [Background text: IP/00/1034]

Asylum standards proposed

The first measure on asylum procedures was put forward by the Commission on 20 September. The draft Directive aims to introduce a level playing field by setting out minimum standards for procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status. Each EU country would continue to operate its own national system, choosing how to meet the proposal's standards and requirements on competent authorities and procedures. The Member States agreed at the Tampere European Council in 1999 to introduce a common asylum system; a Communication on the next stages is due by the end of this year. [Background text: IP/00/1032]

'WTO rules must be consistent'

World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules should tackle all forms of export subsidy in agricultural trade, the Commission said in a position paper on 19 September. Export credits, food aid and state-trading enterprises (STEs) can have an insidious and distorting effect but have not been controlled, said Commissioner Franz Fischler. In stark contrast, the EU's export refunds are subject to rigorous WTO rules, used transparently, and are fully notified to the WTO. The EU has cut spending on export refunds from 55% of the total value of agricultural exports in 1992 to 9.4% in 1998. The EU is ready to envisage further limits on export refunds, Fischler said, if all forms of export subsidy were addressed. The paper will be presented to the WTO Agriculture Committee on 29 September. Details at http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/external/wto/backgrou/index_en.htm

Development disease strategy

A strategy to improve the impact of EU policies against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the developing world was launched by the Commission on 20 September. The goal is to reduce the health and economic effects of these three diseases, which now kill more than 5m people a year and cause more than 300m episodes of illness. The Communication advocates using existing techniques to protect people better from infection, making diagnosis and treatment more affordable, and boosting investment in research to find long-term solutions such as vaccines. [Background text: IP/00/1031]

European Car-Free Day

800 towns and cities joined together in an initiative to promote European Car-Free Day on 22 September. This event is to highlight the importance of improving air quality, the adverse effects of high car use in city centres, and the need for sustainable urban development. A group of Commissioners and staff will join a bike ride through Brussels. For details http://www.eta.co.uk/ and http://www.22september.org/

Consulting on fishing plans

Fishermen, scientists and non-governmental bodies are taking part in a hearing on 21 September, on the management of fish stocks in the EU. The Commission has arranged the meeting to promote dialogue about the best way to secure the future of the fisheries sector by allowing stocks to recover from serious overfishing. Fleet management schemes have not tackled chronic overcapacity in the industry effectively enough, leading to the depletion of stocks. Decisions taken by the Council of Ministers have also watered down proposals put forward by the Commission based on scientific advice about the levels of catches that would be viable.

· The EU and Greenland have extended their fishing agreement to the end of 2006.

Annual inflation rates fall

Annual inflation fell from 2.2% in July to 2.0% in August in the EU, and from 2.4% to 2.3% in the euro zone, according to Eurostat figures on 18 September. The UK had the lowest rate (0.6%), followed by Sweden (1.4%) and Germany (1.8%). The highest rates were in Ireland (5.7%), Spain and Portugal (both 3.6%). Rates in August 1999 were 1.2% for the EU and the euro zone. [Background text: ES 107/2000]

'Green' factors in economics

EU economic policy should take greater account of environmental objectives, a Commission paper suggests. A Communication on integrating 'green' issues into economic policy proposes that finance ministers consider environmental impacts as part of their work on structural reform. Reviews of public finances should also take account of how tax and expenditure policies affect the environment. [Background text: IP/00/1029]

Better pig welfare conditions

The Commission will shortly propose improved conditions for pigs, Commissioner David Byrne said on 19 September. To bring a 1991 Directive in line with scientific evidence and the experience of Member States, the plans are likely to include rules for keeping sows in social groups and a ban on the tethering of sows. The proposals reflect strong and persistent calls for stronger EU rules. [Background text: IP/00/1019]

Agriculture projects for CEE

Rural development schemes for Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Slovenia, part-funded by the EU, have been approved. The programmes, with 520m euro (18.4bn CzK) a year allocated for EU support until 2006, will help the applicant countries to prepare their agriculture and food sectors for EU membership. Commissioner Franz Fischler said the aim was to channel funds to the recipients as quickly as possible, so that the projects could begin. See the Europa website at http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/external/enlarge/index_en.htm

Diary Dates:

Informal meeting of defence ministers 22 September Val d'Oise

Culture Council 26 September Brussels

Internal Market/Consumer Council 28 September Brussels

Justice and Home Affairs Council 28 September Brussels

ECOFIN Council 29 September Brussels

News on enlargement:

EU PRESIDENCY SAYS ENLARGEMENT A PRIORITY - BUT REQUIRES IGC SUCCESS

French European affairs minister Pierre Moscovici reassured the European Parliament on September 5 that enlargement remained at the top of the list of priorities of the French Presidency of the EU. The first objective of the Presidency, he said, was to give a new impetus to the accession negotiations. "The prospect of EU enlargement is the essential question we face for the coming years", he said. "We will go as far as possible in the negotiations - with the 'Luxembourg Six', of course, with whome we aim to make progress on the most difficult chapters of the acquis; and with the 'Helsinki Six', with whom we plan to keep up the rhythm of negotiations and open between four and nine further chapters, in line with each candidate's state of readiness." The Presidency also plans to achieve an overall view of the state of negotiations at the Nice summit, "so as to give an efficient orientation to the work of upcoming Presidencies, and to set out a pathway towards the conclusion of the negotiations", he confirmed.

Moscovici had earlier told French ambassadors in Paris: "The prospect of a large Europe of 20, 25 or 30 members is now a reality, even if its horizon remains undetermined. It is, I repeat, a historic duty and an opportunity for the whole of Europe. But it is clear that this development carries risks for reasons which are well known", he said, and he went on to insist on the crucial importance of agreeing on EU institutional reform at the Nice summit, as a prerequisite to enlargement.

The same prudent note was evident in the remarks of Hubert Védrine, French minister of foreign affairs, and currently president of the EU Council of Ministers, in an article published in several leading European newspapers in early September. He argued in favour of enlargement, but his emphasis was as much on enlargement's role as a catalyst of EU reform as on enlargement itself. In the countdown to the Nice summit in December - when the French Presidency has to meet the challenge of completing the current review of the EU treaties in the Inter Governmental Conference - his caution was evident: "If we enlarge the Union while ignoring criticisms [over deficiencies in the EU's management of its affairs], we will be doomed to failure. We will run the risk of undoing everything that we have achieved over the last forty years. Far from achieving 'an ever closer Union', we will water down the EU to a loosely co-ordinated trade area. In this respect, enlargement is an opportunity: it must be seized to carry out urgent reforms. We owe it to the candidate countries as well as to ourselves", he said. "A failure at the IGC would jeopardise our achievements thus far, unleash centrifugal forces and probably derail or delay enlargement", he warned.

ENVIRONMENT'S PRESSING PROBLEMS

The European Parliament plenary was the scene of another more substantial debate on one of the most sensitive subjects in enlargement: the environment. The subject arose in the urgent debate the Parliament held on the Temelin nuclear power station in the Czech Republic. This resulted in the adoption of a highly critical Parliamentary resolution urging caution in the bring on stream of this new facility. The resolution expresses concern at prospect of trial operations at the Temelin reactor Number 1 before the conduct of full environmental impact assessments. It calls on the Czech government not to connect the Temelin plant to the grid before acceptable environmental protection procedures are carried out. There is also a call for the public to receive detailed information on the whole matter and for full respect to be accorded to all international agreements on nuclear safety.

The Czech Foreign Ministry subsequently said it accepted the text of the European Parliament resolution, although it said it contained erroneous and imprecise information. The European Commission meanwhile is trying to remain aloof from the subject: national decisions on the use of nuclear power are not of themselves an accession issue, it keeps saying. But the support the resolution achieved demonstrates how strongly feelings run on these areas of the enlargement debate.

Analogous concerns were excited on September 8, when a long list of environmental "hot spots" were revealed in the candidate countries of Romania, Hungary and Slovakia (as well as in Ukraine) by the post-Baia Mare report on pollution risks from industrial processes. The report from the International Commission set up to assess the problem also calls for changes in EU legislation, which will complicate still further the discussions on the environment chapter of accession, and could even lead to changes to the imminent regular reports on the candidates: "We need to look at conclusions [of the Baia Mare] report and see if there's need for completion" of the regular reports, said a Commission environment spokesman on September 8.

CANDIDATES PUSH AT EU RESISTANCE

Leading candidate countries have been pushing hard at what they see as EU resistance to move ahead fast enough with accession discussions, and are even starting to put in their bids to the upcoming Swedish Presidency. The Czech Republic's deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator for EU membership, Pavel Telicka, in Stockholm on September 5, called on the EU to speed up membership talks and to set a final date to conclude them. He said some scenario will be needed as a reference point for both sides. By the end of the year, Telicka said he expects to have tackled agriculture, the environment, and competition in the Czech negotiations with the EU.

TAKE PART IN THE DISCUSSION ON EU ENLARGEMENT!

The European Commission has extended its "Dialogue on Europe" exercise to cover enlargement. It is asking the public (http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/index.htm) to offer its views on the subject between the beginning of September and the end of October. The question it poses is: "In your opinion, will the forthcoming enlargement improve the lives of ordinary people in the Union and the applicant countries in practical terms? If so, what advances might it bring about and why? Does enlargement involve risks? Why?"