eunbil · GT0N1372 · 2006-06-13 00:00:00 — THE EUROPEAN UNION , 9 2006 from : Presidency to : Council Subject : (15 and 16 2006) - Draft conclusions The Presidency submits the following revised draft conclusions of Council. The meeting was preceded by an exposé by , President of Parliament, followed by an exchange of views. I. EUROPE LISTENS In 2005 the Heads of State or Government called for a period of reflection during which a broad debate should take place in all Member States, involving citizens, civil society, social partners, national parliaments and political parties, with the contribution of European institutions. Council welcomes the various initiatives taken in the Member States in the framework of national debates, as well as a series of events organised by the Austrian Presidency, in particular the Conference "The Sound of Europe" in on 27/28 January 2006. Council expresses its gratitude to the Commission for having contributed to the reflection period in the context of its Plan D and to Parliament for having organised together with the Austrian Parliament the joint parliamentary meeting on the "Future of Europe" on 8/9 2006. Council welcomes the intention of institutions and Member States to carry on their activities aimed at involving citizens in the debate about what Europe should stand for in the 21st century. It also welcomed the Commission"s contribution "A Citizen"s Agenda for Europe". Council carried out a first assessment of the reflection period. This took place on the basis of the written report prepared by the Presidency and Council Secretariat drawing on information provided by Member States on their national debates (doc. 9701/1/06 REV 1), the "Plan D" initiative and the on a Policy. While worries and concerns have been voiced particularly among young people and women during all public debates, citizens remain committed to project. They want to have a say in European policy making. Reinforced dialogue with the citizens requires adequate means and commitment. Citizens expect the Union to prove its added value by taking action in response to the challenges and opportunities facing it: ensuring peace, prosperity and solidarity, enhancing security, furthering sustainable development and promoting European values in a rapidly globalising world. The Union"s commitment to becoming more democratic, transparent and effective goes beyond the reflection period. Council reaffirms its commitment to a Union that delivers the concrete results citizens expect, in order to strengthen confidence and trust, as set out in Part II. Council agreed to extend the reflection period, as set out in Part III. (a) Promoting freedom, security and Progress on measures agreed in the Hague Programme aimed at addressing problems such as illegal immigration, trafficking of human beings, terrorism and organised crime while guaranteeing respect for fundamental freedoms and rights will be assessed in . In the meantime further efforts are required, particularly as concerns: following the progress made on the (SIS II) and implementation of the Schengen acquis in the new Member States, rapid finalisation of the legislative measures on border control and cooperation and completion of the technical preparations at EU and national levels, making operational the by and the in 2007, thus paving the way for the enlargement of the Schengen area, in accordance with the Hague Programme; taking work forward rapidly on the Commission"s proposal concerning the of and the collection of biometrics for the purpose of visas and initiation of a pilot project, as well as taking work forward on a Community code of visas; taking work forward on visa facilitation and readmission agreements based on the process and considerations laid down in the common approach on facilitation starting with the countries with a European Perspective as referred to in Council conclusions of 2003 and 2005; further strengthening of practical cooperation in developing a common European asylum system, rapid progress on relevant proposals including the amendments to as well as on Regional Protection Programmes (, , , ); achieving further progress on strengthening judicial cooperation in both civil and criminal law, finalisation in particular of negotiations on the procedural rights of accused persons in criminal proceedings and on the Framework Decisions on Evidence Warrant, the application of the principle of mutual recognition to the enforcement of custodial sentences and the protection of personal data; intensifying cooperation, in particular giving an increased role to Europol to support operations; pursuing the fight against trafficking in human beings, based on the EU Action Plan and fully utilising Eurojust, Europol and the Task Force of Chiefs. Council welcomes the "" agreed by Member States and Neighbouring countries of the EU at the Ministerial Conference in on 4-5 2006, as well as the participation of and the of . It takes note of the first steps made towards such a partnership, e.g. improving cooperation between the EU and the Western countries to combat organised crime, corruption, illegal migration and terrorism. Council takes note of the "Initiative" on possible future tripartite cooperation in the field of and home affairs between the EU, and the of and invites future Presidencies to consider how this initiative might be taken forward. Council calls for further swift implementation of the Strategy for the external dimension of JHA, with a view to enhancing the coordination and coherence between JHA policies and external policies. In the light of the increased cooperation with third countries of origin and transit in migration issues in particular in the regions neighbouring the Union, namely the eastern, south eastern and regions, Council recalls the importance of a balanced and comprehensive approach. Developing the Global Approach to Migration agreed in is a fundamental priority for the Union. Recent events reinforce this assessment. In this context Council looks forward to the forthcoming report by the Commission on the Hampton Court follow-up to migration and security to be presented at its meeting. In the meantime Council: welcomes the concrete cooperation measures taken by the Commission, Frontex and some Member States in the wake of recent events in the and in the . It calls for enhanced efforts on operational cooperation with a view to developing adequate surveillance capacities at the sea borders as well as on the of Rapid Border Intervention Teams; underlines the priority of enhancing cooperation on migration with African and neighbouring countries and calls for a balanced dialogue on migration with African States, regional organisations and the African Union through a pan-African conference on migration and development; welcomes the in , as well as other conferences with a specific regional focus, as steps to a regular comprehensive dialogue with African countries as well as the launching of a EU-ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) dialogue on migration (on the basis of Article 13 of the Agreement); recalls the Action Plan engagement to hold a EUROMED Ministerial Meeting on ; looks forward to the presentation by the Commission of a communication on future priorities in the field of illegal immigration and follow-up action; calls on implementation of funded projects on migration, providing financial and technical assistance to third countries in support of their efforts to ensure more effective management of all aspects of migration flows; recognises the importance of the forthcoming UN High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development and the need for an EU common position that integrates the development aspects of migration in a coherent ; calls for discussions to be taken forward on the Commission"s Policy Plan on Legal Migration. Council calls for the implementation of the action plans agreed under the EU Counter Terrorism Strategy, including the strategy against radicalisation and recruitment, to be accelerated. Work must also be sped up on the protection of critical infrastructure. Council awaits the Commission"s first programme in this connection as well as concrete proposals on detection technologies. and the Commission are also invited to develop measures to combat the misuse of the internet for terrorist purposes while respecting fundamental rights and principles. In the context of the review of the Hague Programme, Council calls upon the incoming Finnish Presidency to explore, in close collaboration with the Commission, the possibilities of improving decision-making and action in the area of Freedom, Security and on the basis of existing treaties. [Council welcomes the political agreement reached on the setting up of for Fundamental Rights. The agreement is an important sign of the EUs commitment to human rights. By providing advice and expertise to EU institutions and Member States when implementing Community and Union law the Agency for Fundamental Rights will play an important role in enhancing the coherence and consistency of the EU human rights policy.] Improving the Union"s responsiveness to emergencies, crises and disasters inside and outside the Union remains a political imperative. When such emergencies occur, citizens rightly expect a swift and effective response. While Member States are responsible for managing emergencies on their territory or assisting their citizens abroad, Union can, in a spirit of solidarity, play a role by coordinating a political response and by helping to organise and coordinate available assets when requested to do so. Council endorses the Presidency report on "Reinforcing the Union"s emergency and crisis response capacities" (doc. 9630/1/06) which sets out the many practical steps and decisions taken to improve coordination and delivery of available assets; to get assistance quickly where it is needed; and to provide more effective consular protection to EU citizens in third countries. Furthermore, Council welcomes the report submitted by in 2006 as an important contribution to the debate. on work carried out under the Austrian Presidency, priority must now be given to: rapid implementation of agreed steps and decisions taken as set out in the Presidency report. These include the EU Emergency and Crisis Coordination Arrangements, which set up an ad hoc in and should be operational as of 1 2006, and the recommendations by the Secretary-General/High Representative pertaining to the identification and coordination of Member States military transport assets in support of disaster response; exercising these procedures and capabilities and learning lessons from these exercises and actual operational experience to improve disaster response; the further developing Unions rapid response capability based on means that Member States make available, including civil protection modules, which should be identified and coordinated in order to make this response efficient and capable of ensuring a high level of protection for citizen; adoption of the recast of the Community"s civil protection mechanism and on the of a rapid response and preparedness instrument by the end of the year; closer consular cooperation among EU Member States, including mutual consular assistance points in pre-identified regions. To this end, a joint report by the Secretary-General/High Representative and the Commission is requested in the second half of 2006. is invited to take work forward on the basis of the suggestions contained in the Presidency report, on further input from the Commission and the Secretary-General/High Representative. The incoming Presidency will report to the achieved across the board. (b) Promoting way of life in a globalised world Council took stock of progress in several of the areas discussed at Hampton Court and at the last , aimed at promoting way of life in the face of globalisation and demographic trends. Sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is a fundamental objective of Union. Sustainable development is about safeguarding the earth"s capacity to support life in all its diversity. It is based on democracy, gender equality, solidarity, the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights. While positive achievements have been made since the , many challenges remain. Council therefore adopts an ambitious and comprehensive renewed EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (doc. 10117/06). The implementation of this Strategy will be closely monitored and followed up by regular basis. Council takes note of the Commission"s on a future Policy for the Union and welcomes the launching of a broad debate. Climate change is a global problem requiring global solutions. Council therefore looks forward to a successful continuation of the discussions in the framework of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and under the Kyoto Protocol to arrive at a timely post-2012 arrangement consistent with meeting the Council"s objective of a maximum global temperature increase of above pre-industrial levels. will therefore push in all relevant multilateral fora, including with all Parties to the UNFCCC, for a full and open dialogue on future action and on agreeing an international goal. In addition, Council calls on the Commission to submit without delay a report to Parliament and experience of implementing the directive establishing a scheme for green house gas emission allowance trading within the Community, taking into consideration the situation of SMEs, and accompanied by proposals as appropriate. The re-launched Strategy has already been refocused on those issues of most importance to the citizens, jobs and growth, in full coherence with the Sustainable Development Strategy; special emphasis has been laid on investment in knowledge and innovation, business potential, especially of Small and (SMEs), and employment of priority categories. Council in particular: welcomes the agreement reached in and calls for a swift conclusion of the legislative process; recalls the importance of a simple, transparent and easy-to-apply regulatory environment and of strengthening consumer and business confidence in the internal market; underlining the importance of the Single Market, welcomes the Commission"s intention to launch a general review thereof, to be followed by concrete proposals for completing the internal market and ensuring its effective functioning; an interim report will be presented before the 2007 ; stresses the importance of the social dimension of the Union"s action. It welcomes Commission"s intention to take stock of social realities in the EU and invites the Commission to issue an interim report before 2007; the Commission, the Council and the Parliament should pay particular attention to the social impact of European legislation, including a gender perspective, as set out in the Pact for Gender Equality, within the integrated impact assessment; encourages the Commission to accelerate work on the initiatives outlined in its communication on industrial policy with a view to taking stock of progress in the first half of 2007; underlines the need for investment in knowledge and innovation, welcomes the final agreement on the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme and calls for the rapid adoption of the 7th Framework Programme, as well as the EIB risk-sharing finance facility to support innovation and R&D; calls for a follow up to the Commission"s communication on the challenges ahead for universities and encourages the Member States to promote excellence and modernisation, restructuring and innovation in the higher education sector in order to unlock its potential and to underpin Europe"s drive for more growth and jobs; reaffirms that (), based on a bottom-up approach, on existing national institutions, will be an important step to fill the existing gap between higher education, research and innovation together with other actions that enhance networking and synergies between excellent research and innovation communities in Europe. It looks forward to receiving the Commissions formal proposal for its , to be presented in autumn , following consultation with , Member States and stakeholders; stresses the importance of addressing issues of direct concern to citizens such as food safety and consumer protection, and in this context welcomes the amended Commission proposal for a decision establishing a programme of Community action in the field of consumer policy (2007-2013); emphasises the added value of joining forces in combating rare diseases. It welcomes research activities in the context of the 7th Framework Programme in view of developing preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions and invites the Commission to support the efforts of Member States by making full use of the relevant EU instruments especially in the field of research and public health. In its conclusions of 2006 Council called for an Energy Policy for Europe and invited the Commission and the Council to prepare a set of actions with a clear timetable enabling it to adopt a prioritised Action Plan at its meeting in Spring 2007. The external aspects of energy security will constitute an important part of such an overall policy and will need to be included within the Action Plan. Council therefore welcomes the joint paper by the Commission and High Representative, which is a sound basis for an external policy conducted in a spirit of solidarity and intended to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable energy flows into the Union. It invites the Commission to take it into due account when it draws up the . It underlines the importance of using all the available policies and instruments to support external action in this area. Meanwhile, since there is a continuing need for the EU to respond to the worldwide competition for access to increasingly scarce sources of energy, Council invites the Presidency, the Commission and the High Representative to take forward work on the development and implementation of an external energy policy in a coherent and coordinated . This should include the development of strategic partnerships with the main producer, transit and consumer countries and concentrate initially on the following priorities: invite the Commission to set out elements for further dialogue with on energy; extend the EU"s internal market in energy to its neighbours (including the expansion of the ); make better use of Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) mechanism to further the EU"s energy policy objectives; conclude negotiations of the Energy Charter Transit protocol and secure the ratification of the by all signatories to the Charter; give full support to infrastructure projects aimed at opening up new supply routes with a view to diversifying energy imports; integrate the EU"s energy objectives fully into its trade policy and pursue these through the WTO, as appropriate; pay particular importance to energy in the context of the Union"s relations generally with major third country partners. Council welcomes the conclusion of the Inter-Institutional Agreement on the Financial Perspectives 2007-2013 providing the Union with the means to carry through its policies and stresses the importance of rapidly adopting the necessary legal instruments. Dialogue is an essential element of way of life. This includes the dialogue with the churches and religious communities that have their place in Europe. Council therefore welcomes the meeting with leading representatives of churches and religious communities organized by the Presidency and Commission in on 30 2006. Recent events have also demonstrated the importance of a substantial dialogue between cultures and civilizations. Union will continue to actively promote this dialogue through all existing mechanisms, including the Process and the . Council invites the Presidency, assisted by the Secretary General/High Representative and the Commission to continue to look into ways of working with partners and other international actors in the world, including the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the , to tolerance as well as respect for religious and other beliefs and convictions. Particular emphasis will be given to the role that free media and NGOs can play in this regard. (c) Improving the efficiency, coherence and visibility of the Unions external policies Council reaffirms the commitment of the Union and the Member States to use their substantial international influence as effectively as possible to protect and promote the interests of their citizens. The growing challenges facing the Union make it even more important to improve the efficiency, coherence and visibility of its external policies, as well as the consistency between its external and its internal policies. In this regard, Council welcomes the paper "Europe in the World", presented by the President of the Commission and the internal measures being implemented by the Commission. Council invites the Council, the Secretary-General/High Representative and the Commission to examine other measures in the light of the paper "Europe in the World" with a view to improving i.a. strategic planning, coherence between the Union"s various external policy instruments as well as cooperation between the EU institutions and between the latter and the Member States. Council agrees that a first stocktaking in relation to the implementation of these measures will be made at the end of the Finnish Presidency. (d) Improving the functioning of the Union Council agreed on a number of measures intended to enhance the functioning of the Union making full use of the possibilities offered by existing treaties. This includes opening up the work of the Council and bringing more clarity to the respective responsibilities of the various actors in the work of the Union. Providing citizens with first hand insight into EU activities is a pre-requisite for increasing their trust and confidence in Union. Council therefore agrees to further open up the work of the Council and adopts an overall policy on transparency (). In particular, all Council deliberations under the co-decision procedure shall now be public. It requests the Council to take the measures necessary to ensure implementation of the new policy. In view of the importance of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, Council welcomes the initiative taken by the Austrian Presidency to hold a conference on subsidiarity in St. Pölten on 18/, as a follow-up to last year"s conference in The Hague. The ideas developed at these conferences should be examined and future Presidencies are encouraged to carry this work forward. Council notes the inter-dependence of and national legislative processes. It therefore welcomes the Commission"s commitment to make all new proposals and consultation papers directly available to national parliaments, inviting them to react so as to improve the process of policy formulation. The Commission is asked to take into account comments by national parliaments - in particular with regard to the subsidiarity and proportionality principles - to acknowledge receipt and to offer a reasoned response within an acceptable timeframe. National parliaments are encouraged to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Conference of European Affairs Committees (COSAC) when monitoring subsidiarity. Threshold values are an important example to define the principle of subsidiarity in European legislation, notably in the area of public procurement. Council further recalls that the confidence of citizens in project can benefit from European legislation reflecting more strongly the added value of EU action. It therefore invites the Council, Parliament and Commission to draw up a standard subsidiarity and proportionality check list that shall be applied in legislative process.