No C 41/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
Opinion on the Commission communication on the Community and German unification 
(91/C 41/07) 
On 3 September 1990, the Council of the European Communities decided to consult the 
Economic and Social Committee on the package of proposals for legislation containing the 
technical adjustments and transitional measures necessary to ensure the integration of the 
territory of the German Democratic Republic into the Community. 
The Committee bureau instructed a study group of the Section for External Relations, Trade 
and Development Policy to prepare the work on the subject. Mr Petersen was nominated 
Rapporteur-General. 
At its 281st plenary session (meeting of 20 November 1990) the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following Opinion unanimously. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. Since the borders were opened on 9 November 
1989 the process of German unification has proceeded 
at a pace which not even the greatest optimists would 
have considered possible a year ago. The population of 
the GDR pressed, with growing impatience, for the 
rapid unification of the two German States. In no time 
at all any ideas politicians might have had of a gradual, 
long-term merger of the two States were made com­
pletely untenable by the growing masses crossing from 
East to West. Any delay would have triggered off furth­
er emigration and given further impetus to the economic 
demise of the GDR (!). 
The driving force behind the peaceful revolution was 
the desire for political and economic freedom — indi­
viduals being more important than the collective, free­
dom more important than power and human beings 
more important than the State. The rallying cries were 
'freedom and democracy' and the 'social market econ­
omy'. It was no accident that these two demands were 
made simultaneously, for there was a growing realiza­
tion in the GDR that the economy and society were 
interdependent and closely linked. 
The Economic and Social Committee welcomes the 
unification of the two German States in response to the 
will of the people. It expects that this unification will 
help to further consolidate and to safeguard the key 
ingredients of a free society in Europe, namely personal 
liberty, social justice and solidarity. The Committee is 
also of the opinion that German unification will hasten 
the process of European integration, on both the politi­
cal and economic fronts. 
There are, of course, matters which still give rise to 
concern and anxiety, not just amongst citizens of other 
i1) The Committee has already made an in-depth study of politi­
cal developments following the opening of the borders and 
economic issues affecting the GDR in the information report 
of the Section for External Relations, Trade and Development 
Policy on Central and Eastern European Countries (ESC 
No 492/90 fin.). EC countries but also in the former GDR. Germany's 
EC partners are particularly concerned about the poss­
ible adverse effects of unification on the peripheral 
regions of the EC and also about higher financial bur­
dens which the poorer Member States are not in a 
position to bear. In the former GDR, feelings of insecur­
ity have been prompted by unemployment — which 
is still rising for the moment — and the attendant 
hardships. 
In this connection the Committee would refer to its 
Opinion on the Delors Report on Economic and Monet­
ary Union (EMU) (CES No 1135/89) (2). This Opinion 
voiced the Committee's concern about the wide vari­
ations of prosperity in the Community and pointed out 
that the structural adjustments which still need to be 
made in some Member States before the achievement 
of EMU should not be at the expense of the most 
underprivileged groups and regions in the Community. 
It therefore regretted that no support measures had 
been proposed to cushion any economic and social 
hardship. The views expressed at that time are particu­
larly valid in the context of German unification. 
1.2. The removal of borders and strengthening of 
democratic structures are clearly cornerstones for 
increased economic cooperation with neighbouring 
countries in Central and Eastern Europe too. It is 
encouraging to note that an increasing number of East 
European countries with centrally managed economies 
are in the process of introducing democratic structures 
and market economies. Closer economic cooperation 
throughout Europe is thus in the offing, and will pro­
vide a challenge for the Community. 
There is no doubt that efforts to strengthen economic 
cohesion in the Community, to establish a single market 
by the end of 1992 and to move towards closer cooper­
ation with the East European States, mean risks as well 
(2) OJ No 329, 30. 12. 1989. 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/15 
as opportunities for African, Caribbean and Pacific 
countries (ACP). In the view of the Committee it is 
of crucial importance that the European Community 
upholds its pledges made under the new Lome Conven­
tion. The Community must continue to make sure that 
no ACP country finds it more difficult to gain access 
to traditional markets in Europe. 
1.3. The EC responded both rapidly and construc­
tively to the peaceful revolution in the GDR and the 
subsequent unification process. It took all the necessary 
steps to integrate the GDR into the Community without 
delay. As early as 17 January 1990 the President of the 
EC Commission, Jacques Delors, stated in an address 
to the European Parliament that East Germany was 
assured its place in the EC, if it so desired. Accession 
had, however, to be a peaceful and democratic process 
based on free self-determination and in line with the 
principles of the Helsinki Final Act, the East-West 
dialogue and the prospect of European integration. 
German unification has undoubtedly been completed 
in this spirit. 
In response to the gathering momentum of the German 
unification process, the EC Commission lost no time 
in drawing up a three-stage plan for the incorporation 
of the GDR into the Community as part of a united 
Germany. The plan was given unconditional support 
by the European Council at the special summit in 
Dublin on 28 April 1990. As stated in the conclusions 
of the Presidency, the European Council unreservedly 
supported the unification of Germany. The Community 
was confident that German unification — in response 
to the freely expressed wish of the German people — 
would benefit the development of Europe in general 
and the EC in particular. 
The EC Commission's three-stage plan envisages first 
of all an 'interim phase', which began with German 
monetary, economic and social union. This stage will 
be followed by a 'transitional phase', beginning with 
the achievement of the political unity of Germany, 
before moving on to the 'final phase', in which the 
whole of Community law is fully applied. 
1.4. As early as the special Dublin summit it was 
decided that the Commission should present the 
Council as soon as possible with a general report and 
in this context should also submit proposals for the 
requisite transitional arrangements, on which the 
Council would take an immediate decision. 
The Communication published in the meantime by the 
Commission on the Community and German Unifi­
cation (*) sets out appropriate proposals for expediting 
the rapid transposition and adaptation of Community 
law after the GDR's incorporation into the EC. 
The Committee regards the comprehensive Com­
mission paper, produced at very short notice, as an 
(]) Doc. COM(90) 400 final, Vols. MIL important, indeed essential, contribution to the rapid 
incorporation of the five new Lander into the European 
Community. In general, it approves the adjustments 
and transitional measures proposed in the document 
for the territory of the former GDR. The Committee 
deals below with individual sections of the package, 
submitting proposals for amendments and additions 
and making some critical remarks. 
2. Community law and German unification 
2.1. The territories of the GDR were integrated into 
the European Community when they became part of 
the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990. 
The Commission proposals are confined to the immedi­
ate impact of German unification on the Community's 
responsibilities and secondary Community legislation. 
2.2. The legal integration of the former GDR into 
the Community has been phased in. 
The first State Treaty {Staatsvertrag) of 18 May 1990 
establishing a monetary, economic and social union 
between the Federal Republic of Germany and the 
former GDR on 1 July 1990 meant that key areas of 
West Germany law were in force in the acceding terri­
tory prior to accession. Since these areas of law were 
compatible with EC legislation, a vital step was taken 
on the road to monetary, economic and social inte­
gration (despite the continued existence of two separate 
States) before EC frontiers were extended on 3 October 
1990. 
The Treaty of Union (Einigungsvertrag) concluded 
between the two German States on 31 August 1990 
stipulated that all Community law would apply in the 
territory of the former GDR from the date of accession, 
i.e. 3 October 1990. As Article 10 of the Treaty of Union 
states, Community law includes the treaties establishing 
the European Communities, amendments and additions 
thereto, and legislation based on the treaties. 
With the Treaty of Union, many Federal German laws 
have been amended with a view to their application in 
the new Lander. In certain cases these amendments still 
have to be adopted by the all-German Parliament. 
2.3. The automatic application of Community law in 
the former GDR territories consequent upon unification 
will not involve amendment of the treaties or other 
primary legislation. 
Secondary legislation can largely be applied immedi­
ately, which means that about 80% of direct and 
No C 41/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
indirect Community legislation is already in force today 
in the territories of the former GDR. This notably 
includes external trade and customs legislation, most 
directives on technical barriers to trade, and legislation 
on freedom of establishment, the movement of capital 
and services, competition, company law, indirect tax­
ation and public procurement. 
In some sectors, however, (about 20 % of the corpus of 
Community law) transitional measures will be required 
to take account of the former GDR's distinctive econ­
omic and legal features and to ensure an orderly and 
socially acceptable incorporation of the five new Lander 
into the European Community. The transitional 
arrangements vary for each area and sector and can 
have the same legal basis as the relevant secondary 
legislation. They have been limited to what is absolutely 
necessary so that the adjustment process in the former 
GDR can proceed as rapidly as possible and integration 
into the Common Market can be speeded up. 
2.4. The transitional measures proposed by the 
Commission essentially comprise technical adjustments 
and temporary derogations which will apply for fixed 
periods from the date of formal unification. 
The Committee agrees with the Commission that in 
such cases the following principles must be adhered to: 
— acceptance of the 'acquis communautaire' must be 
both the starting-point and ultimate objective, 
— any transitional arrangements must be objectively 
necessary, 
— derogations must be temporary and cause minimum 
disruption to the functioning of the Common 
Market. 
The transitional measures will be based on the degree 
of Community integration achieved in the different 
areas and sectors. They will generally apply up to the 
deadline for transposition of the relevant Community 
policies, i.e. derogations in respect of the single market 
may apply until 1992 —1993 and derogations in respect 
of the environment until 1995. In addition to tran­
sitional measures, new rules (such as a higher German 
sugar quota) will be proposed to take account of the 
increased production capacity resulting from unifi­
cation. 2.5. The original idea was for transitional measures 
and adjustments to be transposed into German law or 
be directly applicable in the territory of the former 
GDR before unification. 
However, since unification came about on 3 October 
1990, i.e. earlier than expected, it became necessary to 
resort to an additional procedure and adopt provisional 
measures in order to prevent any infringements of EC 
law pending the adoption of the transitional measures. 
On 17 September 1990 the Council, with the agreement 
of the European Parliament, took a decision empower­
ing the Commission to adopt provisional measures for 
the former territory of GDR, permitting for example 
some regulations not compatible with EC law to remain . 
in force temporarily in this territory. 
The ten-day period allowed by the Council was not 
sufficient to enable the Economic and Social Committee 
to comment on the provisional measures which entered 
into force on 29 September 1990. However, given the 
political and time constraints, the Economic and Social 
Committee considers that it was essential to adopt such 
measures since there was no other way of avoiding a 
legal vacuum pending the Council's adoption of the 
transitional measures. The Committee therefore gives 
ex post facto support to this interim solution. 
2.6. On 27 September 1990 the Commission 
empowered the Federal Republic of Germany in a 
second stage to implement the provisional measures. 
The German Federal Government was also empowered 
under the first paragraph of Article 4 on the law approv­
ing the Treaty of Union to postpone or adapt the 
application and implementation of directly applicable 
Community laws, as well as German Federal law enact­
ed in pursuance of Community law. 
Under these powers the German Federal Government 
adopted on 29 September 1990, with the agreement of 
the Bundesrat (upper house of Parliament), a Regul­
ation on the transposition of the legislation of the 
European Communities to the area referred to in 
Article 3 of the Treaty of Union (Regulation on the 
transposition of EC law). The Regulation sets out the 
derogations which the European Commission had pro­
posed should constitute the definitive transitional meas­
ures. A number of other derogations in line with the 
Commission's proposals are already contained in the 
appendices to the Treaty of Union. They will be 
enshrined in Community law by EC legislation. 
Owing to this interim solution the transitional arrange­
ments and adjustments proposed by the Commission 
now have legal force by and large. The Council will 
have to decide whether they should continue to be 
applicable after the 31 December 1990 deadline. Such 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/17 
a decision will in no way be prejudiced by the pro­
visional measures. 
2.7. The Commission has also been empowered, 
under a committee procedure specified in the Council 
Decision of 13 July 1987 laying down the procedures 
for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on 
the Commission, to take additional provisional measur­
es in order to avoid difficulties in Germany or any other 
EC Member State and to regulate other details. Under 
the terms of this procedure the Commission may adopt 
proposals if the Council has not acted within a reason­
ably short period of time. In the agricultural sector, 
implementing measures are to be adopted by manage­
ment committees. 
The Economic and Social Committee considers that it 
is necessary to introduce such a flexibility clause which, 
like the provisional measures already in force, would 
apply only until 30 December 1990. A mechanism 
whereby safeguards can be adopted without delay is 
also in the interests of the other EC Member States. 
2.8. With regard to the production and importation 
of goods below the standards set by EC regulations, 
the Commission's transitional measures stipulate that 
such goods must remain within the territory of the 
former GDR. To ensure that these provisions are strict­
ly observed, end-use controls are envisaged. In this 
connection the Commission has, in collaboration with 
the German Federal Government, brought out a Com­
munication in which the supervisory and control meas­
ures under consideration are reviewed in detail. Such 
measures primarily cover goods produced in the former 
GDR, goods imported into the former GDR from cer­
tain third countries without payment of duty, and agri­
cultural products of the former GDR X1). 
Controls may be carried out by the German authorities 
or the appropriate departments of the European Com­
mission and, as before, they may also be carried out 
in other Member States. Infringements of transitional 
measures incur penalties (customs penalties, seizure of 
goods, withdrawal of import licences, fines of up to 
10 000 DM). In the event of major market distortions, 
Member States may ask the Commission to discontinue 
the suspension of customs duties on certain goods and 
reimpose normal customs duties. 
Although the Commission's package of measures con­
stitutes a comprehensive control system, doubts remain. 
The Committee considers in fact that there is a well-
founded danger of the transitional measures being cir­
cumvented at the border between the former GDR and 
(!) ESQ90) No 1983 final. the Federal Republic. It accordingly calls on the German 
Federal Government and the European Commission to 
make adequate use of the controls available, more 
particularly so as to preempt any calls for special label­
ling for such goods. 
3. Overall economic impact of Germany unity 
3.1. The Commission considers that German unifi­
cation will have a positive overall economic effect. The 
growing demand for 'Western' consumer goods and the 
enormous demand for production plant and machinery 
— either for refurbishing outdated plant or fitting out 
new firms — will benefit industry and the building 
trade as well as the services sector (especially commerce, 
banking and insurance). Considerable public aid for 
strengthening the economy and mastering the social 
problems arising during the period of transition in the 
five new Lander will also cause a sharp increase in net 
borrowing by the State with the result that fiscal policy 
will also give a considerable impetus to expansion. 
3.2. There has been a lot of speculation in the past 
months about the overall economic effect of German 
unity on the other Member States of the Community. 
It is certainly right to say that the boost which is likely 
to be given to demand and growth will also benefit 
Western trading partners — including first and fore­
most Germany's partners in the Community. The initial 
consequences of rising imports (coupled with modest 
growth in foreign demand) can already be felt. 
Germany's high current account surplus (which was still 
as much as 104 000 million DM in 1989) is beginning to 
shrink, while the state of other Community countries' 
current accounts is improving. This change will be of 
benefit to the international adjustment process and 
there will be greater convergence between Member 
States' external balances. 
The revival and modernization of the former GDR's 
economy will require enormous injections of capital 
and this means that following the steady rise during 
the eighties, there will be a sustained fall in the net 
outflows of capital from the Federal Republic. Hence 
the frequently expressed concern that other Community 
countries such as Spain, Portugal or Ireland might suffer 
as a result of German industry's involvement in the five 
new Lander. The Community expects that — irrespec­
tive of the huge funds flowing to the new part of the 
Federal Republic — German firms will continue to 
invest in other Community countries. Investments con­
sidered to make economic sense will certainly be con­
tinued. 
No C 41/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
3.3. Looking at overall economic progress so far, 
there is no denying that expectations in the former 
GDR have not been fulfilled by a long shot. The indus­
trial base there is shrinking under the pressure of inter­
national competition and unemployment is rising stead­
ily from month to month. The necessary transformation 
— according to the most recent overall economic analy­
ses of the main German economic research institutes 
— is fraught with difficulties. These difficulties were 
expected, though not the ferocity with which they have 
surfaced. 
According to the research institutes, the transformation 
of the East German economy will take some time. To 
quote: 'Privatization, the clarification of ownership 
rights, the disentanglement of monopolistic enterprises 
and the development of an efficient public sector are 
already proving to be troublesome. It will be completely 
impossible in the short term to complete the moderniza­
tion of infrastructure, the building of a modern econ­
omy based on the division of labour, the development 
of a differentiated wage structure and the clean-up of 
the environment. It is not yet possible to foresee how 
long the transformation process will take.' (*) At any 
rate, the contraction will continue — according to the 
institutes — until the middle of next year and not until 
then is there a likelihood — starting at whatever level 
the economy might have fallen to — of a gradual 
revival. The institutes forecast an unemployment peak 
of 1,7 million in 1991 and 2 million workers on short 
time in the coming winter. 
3.4. The Commission's and the German economic 
research institutes' assessments diverge sharply, and 
this raises the question of whether one of them is being 
completely unrealistic. The Committee thinks that the 
answer in this case is no. In fact, it is highly likely 
that the positive macroeconomic effects forecast by the 
Commission will materialize in the medium term. The 
sole problem with the Commission's forecast is that the 
time factor is ignored and the conflict-ridden tran­
sitional phase is not touched upon. General forecasts 
about economic effects — no matter how correct they 
may be — are of little use for economic policy decisions. 
It is to be hoped that the difficult adjustment processes 
which the East German economy must undergo do 
not unduly impair the adjustments and transitional 
arrangements proposed by the Commission. At any 
rate, it is not out of the question that some of the 
ambitious transitional deadlines — e.g. in the environ­
mental sector — may soon prove to be wishful thinking 
because of East German firms' inability to invest. 
(*) From 'Die Lage der Weltwirtschaft und der deutschen Wirt-
schaft im Herbst 1990'. 4. External aspects 
4.1. Since 3 October 1990, the EC's common trade 
policy has also applied, in principle, to business in the 
former GDR. In practice, it became applicable with the 
entry into force of the first State Treaty on 1 July 1990, 
since when the new Lander have basically been subject 
to the same customs, foreign-trade and tax legislation 
as the Federal Republic. Thus, even before the formal 
unification of the two German States, the Community 
had entered into a de facto customs union with the 
GDR and this was supplemented by a de facto agricul­
tural union on 1 August 1990. From that date, trade in 
agricultural products — with both the Member States 
and non-Community countries — has also been gover­
ned by the relevant Community legislation. 
4.2. German unification has undoubtedly raised a 
number of foreign-trade problems for the Community. 
These relate, on the one hand, to the extent to which 
the Community can (or must) assume the international 
rights and obligations of the former GDR and, on the 
other, to the application in the new Lander of the 
treaties concluded by the Community. 
Account must also be taken of the economic conse­
quences for neighbouring states and the former GDR's 
principal trading partners as well as of ties between 
COMECON countries and their suppliers in the former 
GDR. 
The maintenance and expansion of trade relations with 
COMECON countries is in the interests of both sides. 
Moreover, the Federal Republic and the former GDR 
have assured their COMECON trading partners that 
there is no danger of unification penalizing them, for 
example as a result of the sudden abrogation of existing 
contracts. This principle of 'legitimate expectation' 
(Vertrauensschutz), which is enshrined in both the State 
Treaty and the Unification Treaty, has been consistently 
reiterated by the Federal Government, particularly vis­
a-vis the Soviet Union, the former GDR's main trading 
partner. 
4.3. The Economic and Social Committee regards 
the principle of legitimate expectation as of crucial 
importance for the international division of labour 
especially in the context of German unification. The 
Committee feels that this principle must be guaranteed 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/19 
with respect to Eastern Europe at a time when it is 
undergoing a major process of political transformation 
and renewal as it attempts to introduce democratic 
systems with market economies, and when the COM­
ECON countries are making major efforts to liberalize 
their foreign trade and seeking, quite justifiably, a closer 
involvement in the world economic order. 
4.4. The Committee welcomes the various forms of 
Community support for the process of reform in Cen­
tral and Eastern Europe, such as the conclusion of 
trade and cooperation agreements and the multilateral 
support programme of the Group of '24', which the 
Commission has been coordinating since mid-1989 on 
the instructions of the Paris Economic Summit. It is 
also pleased that the Community intends to suspend 
customs duties for a transitional period on certain 
imports of industrial [including European Coal and 
Steel Community (ECSC)] and agricultural products 
covered by bilateral agreements between the former 
GDR and COMECON countries or Yugoslavia, pro­
vided that the goods concerned remain in the former 
GDR territory and certain maximum values or quantit­
ies are not exceeded. The transitional period proposed 
by the Commission — one year with a possible one-
year extension — should, however, be reconsidered. It 
might save more time and cause fewer problems to fix 
a two-year transitional period from the outset. 
4.5. Patience will also be required. Centralized mis­
management can hardly be eradicated in a short time. 
Nor can fixed quotas, production targets and the use 
of money merely as an accounting unit — which have 
long characterized intra-COMECON trade — be con­
jured away overnight. At the same time, it is essential 
to bear in mind that increased trade in goods and 
services with COMECON must not be seen as a one­
way process. Whilst the urgently required moderniza­
tion and expansion of production capacity and infra­
structure will inevitably suck in a large volume of 
imports, a sound basis for trade with Central and 
Eastern Europe will be established permanently only 
when the countries concerned gain access to Western 
markets and can earn the foreign currency they need. 
4.6. The admission of the former GDR to the world 
economic system must be based on the principles of 
free (and fair) trade as laid down, in particular, in the 
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The 
incorporation of the GDR into the Federal Republic 
has automatically extended the GATT area, i.e. a non-member has acceded to GATT indirectly without going 
through the admission procedures. 
In principle, as already stated, Community trade policy 
has applied in the former GDR since the formal unifi­
cation of the two German States. However, legal, econ­
omic and political considerations make it necessary to 
introduce the abovementioned adjustments and tran­
sitional arrangements, not least with a view to avoiding 
abrupt changes. The Committee therefore agrees that 
the Commission should notify GATT of the proposed 
measures, but wonders whether notification alone is 
enough. In its view, far from simply being notified, the 
GATT partners must be asked to approve a waiver, that 
is a temporary derogation from the GATT regulations. 
This, however, means having to negotiate with GATT. 
In particular, GATT must be convinced that the tran­
sitional trade arrangements and adjustments proposed 
by the Commission will not permanently discriminate 
against any of its partners. 
5. Internal Market 
5.1. In the key areas of Community Single Market 
legislation, no derogations will be required for the 
integration of the five new Lander into the Community. 
The main areas involved here are: 
— customs union, 
— public procurement, 
— industrial and intellectual property, 
— free movement of persons, 
— financial services, company law and taxation, 
— indirect taxation. 
5.2. Most directives regulating trade in industrial 
products can also be applied without derogations, 
although transitional arrangements (which are to apply 
until 31 December 1992) are planned for cosmetics, 
machinery, electrical appliances, textiles, prepackaging 
and crystal glass. The period of adjustment for pharma­
ceuticals and veterinary medicines will be extended 
until 31 December 1995. 
The Committee endorses the transitional periods pro­
posed for these product areas, which it considers appo-
No C 41/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
site for solving the problems of adjustment. In this 
connection, it would draw attention once again to the 
provision stipulating that GDR products and goods 
imported from COMECON countries which do not 
comply with Commission directives may not be market­
ed in the Community outside the territory of the former 
GDR. Germany has to take all the necessary action to 
ensure that these goods remain within the former GDR. 
The action taken must be compatible with the Treaty, 
and in particular the objectives of Article 8A, and 
must not lead to intra-Community border controls or 
formalities. Conversely, the Committee would ask the 
Commission to ensure that no other Member State is 
compelled to increase its controls or formalities. It 
would be disastrous if the ambitious plan to establish 
a frontier-free area by the end of 1992 were to be 
watered down this way. The aim should be to induce 
firms in the former GDR to focus all their efforts in 
the coming year on adjusting rapidly to Community 
standards and quality requirements. 
5.3. In the field of the professions the directives 
regulating the recognition of diplomas on the basis of 
a Community definition of minimum training will be 
directly applicable once a few technical changes have 
been made. This applies to the general rules governing 
the recognition of diplomas, and the specific rules for 
doctors, nurses, dentists, veterinary surgeons, midwiv-
es, architects and pharmacists. An 18-month period of 
adjustment will be required only for the application 
of the Directive harmonizing the training of medical 
specialists. 
The Committee gives its approval to the proposed 
amending Directive; at the same time it assumes that 
where evidence of formal qualifications is required to 
exercise a regulated profession, such qualifications will 
only be recognized by the Member States after careful 
examination of the diplomas and certificates submitted. 
In addition to professional competence, the political 
facts behind the evidence of formal qualifications 
should play a role here. 
5.4. In the field of competition law there is no need 
for any derogations with regard to the application of 
EEC Treaty Articles 85 and 86 and the Community 
legislation derived therefrom (Regulation No 17, con­
trol of mergers, group exemptions, etc.). The Com­
mission ensures their application on a non-discriminat­
ory basis. 
The control of state aid will also not require any formal 
adjustments. If major difficulties emerge in individual 
sectors, the Commission should apply EEC Treaty 
Articles 92 and 93 flexibly. The shipbuilding industry (proposals for amending the 6th and not yet adopted 
7th Directives) is a special case. The wording of the 
proposals differs slightly in the German version (maybe 
unintentionally), but both stipulate that operating aid 
for shipbuilding and ship conversion in the former GDR 
may be compatible with the Common Market provided 
that: 
— the shipbuilding industry has undertaken a system­
atic and specific restructuring programme, including 
capacity reductions, which can be considered capa­
ble of allowing it to operate competitively after the 
end of 1992, and 
— the aid is progressively reduced. 
The Committee can endorse these proposals. However, 
it thinks that the two-year transitional period laid down 
is insufficient. The shipyards in the former GDR will 
have to make considerable adjustments and act urgently 
to restructure and increase productivity. A start has 
already been made in this direction. In addition, studies 
are being carried out at the moment and some of these 
will not be completed until 1991. Even if the selective 
restructuring measures still to be adopted are 
implemented rapidly, the shipyards are hardly likely to 
become fully competitive in the remaining period. 
In this connection, the Committee would refer to its 
Opinion of 19 September 1990 (ESC No 1057/90) on 
the proposal for a 7th Council Directive on aid to 
shipbuilding (x). Because of the unduly degressive 
reduction in aid and its validity for only two years, this 
Commission proposal was considered by the Commit­
tee to be generally unsatisfactory. 
6. Common agricultural policy 
6.1. Because of the differing institutional and econ­
omic conditions, bringing the former GDR's agricul­
tural sector under the common agricultural policy 
(CAP) presents a special challenge. The Commission is 
attempting to minimize derogations in the core areas 
of agricultural policy and impose a strict time-limit on 
them. In the view of the Committee the Commission 
should also make sure that the proposed derogations 
do not put any Community region, for which the CAP 
is of vital importance, at any sort of disadvantage. 
6.2. Under the terms of Article 15 of the first State 
Treaty between the two German States, the former 
(!) Doc. COM(90) 248 final. 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/21 
GDR committed itself to introducing a price support 
system and a system of external protection modelled on 
the Community regime. The aim was to bring national 
producer prices into line with Community prices as 
quickly as possible. Thus the GDR had taken its most 
important farm policy decision even before acceding to 
the Federal Republic, for prices are the key regulatory 
mechanism in market economies. 
6.3. The differences in production between the two 
parts of the united Germany are striking. Despite the 
roughly comparable quality of the land the average 
yields per hectare in the new Lander are 20-30 % lower. 
Sugar beet production lags a particularly long way 
behind. With modern production techniques, better 
quality seeds and dynamic management, however, it 
will be possible to increase crop yields appreciably in 
a relatively short period of time. 
This will undoubtedly put pressure on a Community 
agricultural market which has now been struggling with 
structural surpluses for many years. Measures to take 
some pressure off the market will therefore be indis­
pensable in the five new Lander, too, if the future of 
the CAP reforms is not to be put in jeopardy. The 
CAP's principles must be observed — also as regards 
intervention quantities and production quotas. 
— With regard to the sugar quota, the Commission is 
proposing a basic quantity of 870 000 tons white 
sugar. The Committee considers a further large 
reduction in this basic quantity to be indispensable. 
— The Commission also proposes cuts in milk pro­
duction. The former GDR's milk regime will remain 
in force until the end of the milk marketing year, 
but the quota scheme will be introduced on 1 April 
1991. Instead of the average 8 million tons per year 
between 1986 and 1988 there is to be a guaranteed 
total quantity of only 6,6 million tons in the 1991-
1992 milk marketing year. 
6.4. The drastic cuts in milk production will necessi­
tate a sharp reduction of roughly 20% in the former 
GDR's dairy herd. In order to ensure that the ensuing 
meat mountains do not distort the highly sensitive 
Community market in meat products, the Committee 
suggests that the meat be exported to East European 
countries. The Soviet Union and — without question 
— other countries will probably continue for some time 
yet to be very keen on importing farm produce. The 
lack of foreign currency might of course be an obstacle, which is why the Committee proposes that these 
countries be given food aid in emergencies. 
However, if the efforts being taken by East European 
countries to push through reforms also extend sooner 
or later to agriculture, these countries will make every 
effort to become exporters of farm produce themselves. 
This eventuality is borne out by a US Ministry of 
Agriculture forecast that the countries of Eastern Euro­
pe will become farm-produce exporters in important 
product areas by the year 2000. 
6.5. Quality standards for crop and livestock pro­
duction lag a long way behind — as does the processing 
and marketing of produce. There is a shortage of 
slaughterhouses, cold storage plants and meat-process­
ing facilities, to quote but three examples. The process­
ing industry in the former GDR is therefore not in a 
position — at least in the immediate future — to comply 
with all Community provisions. The Commission is 
consequently proposing transitional arrangements 
which will last until 31 December 1992. At the same 
time, produce which fails to comply with Community 
quality of health standards or the like (e.g. the legis­
lation governing livestock epidemics or the protection 
of animals) can be marketed only within the territory 
of the former GDR. The Committee urges the Com­
mission to carry out effective checks to ensure the strict 
observance of this rule. 
6.6. The structure of agriculture in the former GDR 
is radically different from that in the Federal Republic 
and the rest of the Community. It is the outcome of a 
policy which has been modelled for many years on 
the industrialization of agriculture. Expropriation and 
collectivization were the most important instruments 
used to attain the objective of establishing a fully organ­
ized agro-industrial complex. Although there are vari­
ous types of farms in the five new Lander, the most 
common is the agricultural production cooperat­
ive [Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft 
(LPG)]. These were set up during the collectivization 
phase between 1952 and 1960 and were subsequently 
developed further. Last year these cooperatives, which 
are not comparable in any way with the types of cooper­
atives to be found in the Member States of the European 
Community, farmed roughly 85 % of agricultural land. 
Without a doubt the most important, but at the same 
time most difficult, task facing agricultural policy in 
the former GDR is to unravel the structures that were 
established by force. 
6.7. Existing Community structural aid measures 
offer hardly any chance of success in the former GDR. 
According to the Commission, more harm than good 
No C 41/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
could be done in some cases. The Commission has 
therefore adapted the available structural policy meas­
ures to conditions in the former GDR. The guiding 
principle has been not only to satisfy the needs of the 
large production cooperatives but also to offer family 
farms effective assistance in re-equipping and moderniz­
ing their establishments. 
6.8. The Economic and Social Committee has given 
detailed consideration to the package of measures. The 
proposed measures are considered to be adequate in 
part, though the Committee thinks that some of them 
should be modified. Whether or not the planned dead­
lines are realistic is debatable. This applies not only to 
the special provisions under Regulation (EEC) No 797/ 
85 but also to the proposal amending Regulation (EEC) 
No 866/90. Article 13 of the latter excludes investments 
in respect of which work commenced more than six 
months before the date on which the Commission 
receives the application for assistance. The Committee 
considers that, in view of the difficult transitional per­
iod in the former GDR, this time-limit is hardly likely 
to suffice. It should be extended to nine months mainly 
because the Lander autorities' machinery for approving 
and forwarding future investment applications has not 
taken shape yet. 
6.9. The Committee expressly welcomes the Com­
mission's proposed set-aside and extensification 
schemes for stabilizing Community production and 
improving the rural environment. Special mention 
should be made of the inclusion of land planted with 
potatoes. The Committee thinks that set-aside should 
be extended even further, especially where the ground 
is heavily contaminated and must be taken out of 
production because food can no longer be grown on it. 
6.10. In order to make the restructuring of agricul­
tural production cooperatives easier, the Commission 
is proposing to raise the ceilings on eligible investments 
and make a larger number of pigs and dairy cows 
eligible for investment aid. The Committee agrees with 
the Commission on the need to encourage the restruc­
turing of agricultural cooperatives, provided that the 
number of pigs is not increased and that account is 
taken of the reduction in the number of dairy cows 
which will have to take place in the former GDR. 
It is not in the interests of production cooperatives or 
family farms in the former GDR to receive aid for measures which sooner or later may turn out to be 
uneconomic. In view of the Community surpluses, there 
should be no intensification of farm production in the 
former GDR. It has long been established in the other 
Member States that such intensification is economically 
and ecologically unsound. 
The Committee proposes that the Commission focus 
available resources on measures which reduce costs but 
do not increase production. In particular, a major effort 
should be made to establish in the five new Lander a 
highly efficient and flexible processing and marketing 
sector which has close ties with agriculture. 
7. Transport and telecommunications 
7.1. The^ transport and telecommunications infra­
structure in the former GDR is inadequate, overcrowd­
ed, antiquated and prone to breakdowns. The com­
mand-economy infrastructure policy of the past 
overtaxed the railways, retarded the development of 
the road network considerably and neglected telecom­
munications. Enormous funds will have to be invested 
in order to rehabilitate and expand the infrastructure, 
and optimize its quality. 
7.2. According to the Commission the integration of 
the former GDR's transport sector into the Community 
will require only a few transitional measures. The tran­
sitional arrangements are timed to ensure that the inte­
grated transport market can be completed to all intents 
and purposes by the end of 1992. 
The adjustments and transitional arrangements meet 
with the Committee's broad approval. In the case of 
maritime transport, however, the Committee wonders 
whether it is in fact necessary to grant a four-year 
period of grace for agreements concluded by the former 
GDR. The parties to the UN Code of Conduct for Liner 
Conferences have pledged not to conclude any bilateral 
cargo-sharing agreements amongst themselves, and on 
top of this the Member States of the Community have 
promised to let all such agreement with non-Code sig­
natories expire by the end of 1992. Why a further two-
year period of grace is necessary for the former GDR 
is difficult to understand. The Committee thinks that 
the Commission should ensure that the agreements 
entered into by the former GDR expire before 1 January 
1995. 
In the road-transport sector the main concern is the 
deadlines for fitting tachographs recording driving 
hours and rest periods. The Commission proposes a 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/23 
three-year period of grace, which it justifies on the 
grounds that workshop capacity in the former GDR is 
inadequate. The Committee admits that this may justify 
a lengthy period of grace, but firmly believes that the 
period should be shortened to no more than two years. 
Some of the vehicles in question are already equipped 
with a Community-approved tachograph, and there is 
hardly any danger of workshops having too much work 
on their hands. The Commission's second argument — 
that it wants to give smaller firms the chance to replace 
their fleets (which are frequently between 20 and 
28 years old) before they get involved in a costly re-
equipped operation — is well meant, but equally uncon­
vincing. There is no overlooking the fact that the tacho­
graph is vital in helping to improve working conditions 
(driving hours and rest periods) and road safety. The 
possibilities for carrying out checks during the tran­
sitional period is another point which the Committee 
wonders about: there is no reference at all to this in 
the Committee document. 
7.3. The funds needed for the large-scale renewal of 
infrastructure in the former GDR are being revised 
upwards all the time. In its latest estimates, the Federal 
Ministry of Transport arrives at a figure of 125 000 
million DM for transport infrastructure alone. These 
funds are to be used initially to bring the network in 
the former GDR up to Western standards; the rail 
network will require slightly less than 50 000 million 
DM, about 60 000 million DM will go on trunk and 
local roads and the inland waterways will require a 
further 8 000 million DM. These figures do not include 
the cost of increasing infrastructure capacity, plugging 
gaps and everyday maintenance and repair. 
In view of the vast funds required and the need to 
complete the most urgent projects in a reasonable space 
of time public funding will be clearly overtaxed. There­
fore, new forms of infrastructure finance should be 
considered. Above all, private capital will have to be 
mobilized. Examples such as the Channel Tunnel, the 
link with Scandinavia and the Transrapid magnetic 
levitation railway show that private finance may be 
quite a realistic proposition. 
7.4. Because of its geographical position, united Ger­
many will undoubtedly become the crossroads for East-
West and North-South traffic in Europe. The demand 
for transport services will increase, especially once the 
Single Market has been completed. Today restrictions 
and barriers exist between countries but tomorrow the 
question of whether a transport operation is confined 
to one country or covers the whole of Europe will be immaterial. Hence the need in future to consider and 
judge infrastructure investment more in a European-
wide context, with the railways playing a special role 
from the transport, regional development and environ­
mental points of view. The planning of infrastructure 
of Europe as a whole is gradually taking shape. Given 
this fact, the Committee welcomes the Commission's 
intention to pay close attention to the development 
of East-West links so that the merging of European 
economies is not impeded and the associated exchange 
of goods not hampered by transport bottlenecks. 
7.5. The rules of the market place are going to come 
more to the fore in European transport. This means 
keener competition. Equal opportunity, liberalization 
and harmonization are the ultimate objectives. The 
Committee therefore urges the Commission to help 
ensure that Member States' transport market regimes 
do not lag behind the liberal provisions. Transport 
and infrastructure form the natural basis for a large 
European market; they are the prerequisites for further 
economic growth and social progress. 
7.6. Developments in the former GDR and the open-
ing-up of East European markets also present telecom­
munications with new tasks. The telecommunications 
sector in the former GDR is in an extremely dilapidated 
state. The telephone network dates back to the Twen­
ties, more than 90 % of telephone lines are reported to 
be worn out and only 17% of the population have a 
telephone. Telecommunication services such as telefax, 
teletex and videotex are largely unknown. According 
to the latest information, a total of 55 000 million DM 
is to be invested between now and 1997 in modernizing 
and developing the telecommunications network in the 
former GDR. 
The Commission considers that the most important 
Community telecommunications legislation can be 
applied immediately. Only two Community Directives 
(terminal liberalization and mobile communications 
frequencies) will have to be adapted. 
8. Structural policy 
8.1. The economy of the former GDR is on the brink 
of a difficult period of restructuring. The switch from 
a centrally managed economy to a social market econ­
omy is bound to spark off wide areas of sweeping 
structural changes. Enterprises are uncompetitive in 
wide areas of the economy: their range of products fall 
far short of the customary international quality 
No C 41/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
standards, and productivity — while fluctuating sharply 
— is still only 30-50% of West German rates; in 
addition, the systematic waste of human resources, 
energy and environmental assets is borne out by a high 
capital-output ratio, above-average per capita energy 
consumption and the alarming extent to which the 
environment is being destroyed. 
8.2. Because of this terrible state of affairs, the Com­
mission considers that Community assistance is also 
necessary and thinks that the Community's structural 
funds have an important role to play. The Committee 
accepts the Commission's proposal that the five new 
German Lander should qualify for aid from the Com­
munity structural funds, as this will underscore their 
integration into the Community. 
The Commission is proposing a special programme for 
the structural development of the former GDR, with 
funds totalling 3 000 million ECU for the period 1991-
1993. The structural funds will be topped up for this 
purpose, i.e. the money will not be siphoned off from 
the other Member States. The Committee advocates 
that the funding be reviewed at the end of 1993 and be 
scaled down in line with any improvement in the overall 
economic situation in the new Lander. It also assumes 
that in future all possible steps will be taken to avoid 
conflicts about the distribution of funds between a 
united Germany and the poorer peripheral regions of 
the Community. The Federal Government formally 
renounced any Community contribution towards the 
cost of German unification at the special Dublin summit 
on 28 April 1990. 
8.3. The Commission states correctly that the 
restructuring of the former GDR economy must be 
tackled swiftly. It has therefore proposed a simplified 
procedure for development plans. There is to be only 
one such plan for the five Lander and even this is to be 
less detailed than usual. The Federal Government is 
drafting this development plan at the moment, and it 
is to be submitted to the authorities in Brussels by 31 
January 1991. It will form the basis for the drafting 
by March 1991 of a Community support framework 
regulating the use of the structural funds, the deploy­
ment of resources and German co-financing. 
8.4. When appraising this simplified procedure, con­
sideration should be given to the fact that the statistical 
base in the former GDR is extremely poor, for data are 
distorted and fragmentary. Furthermore, it does not 
seem feasible at the moment to make reliable plans two 
years in advance for the comprehensive adjustment process; deployment of the structural funds is therefore 
also out of the question at the moment. It is objectively 
impossible to select and plan aid for areas in the former 
GDR which, by Commission definition, are backward, 
are threatened with industrial decline or face adjust­
ment problems in agriculture. Flexibility is required 
here. It therefore makes sense for the Commission not 
to designate objective 1, 2 and 5b areas. Furthermore, 
aid granted under the funds should wherever possible 
be global and its use should be carefully coordinated 
by the Federal Government and the new Lander. 
8.5. One question to be asked in the wake of unifi­
cation is what is to happen to the Federal German aid 
granted to Berlin and the areas along the border 
between the two former German States. This aid was 
designed to mitigate the hardship resulting from the 
division of Germany, but this motive has now ceased 
to exist. The Federal Government therefore intends to 
table a law before the end of 1990 phasing out these aid 
programmes over a seven-year period. The Committee 
thinks that this transitional period is too long and 
should be reduced considerably. 
9. Energy 
9.1. The power supply system in the former GDR is 
inadequate, polluting the environment and endangering 
health. Its excessive reliance on indigenous brown coal 
means that oil, natural gas, nuclear energy and hard 
coal are used comparatively little. The system is typified 
by the low efficiency of energy consuming plant and 
high energy conversion losses, especially in connection 
with electricity supplies. The situation is exacerbated 
by high distribution and transport losses in the elec­
tricity and gas networks. 
Brown coal in the former GDR provides almost 70% 
of aggregate primary energy needs. Deposits will last 
for another 60 to 70 years at the current rate of extrac­
tion and therefore do not inhibit its use. Its availability, 
quality, wastefulness and environmentally damaging 
nature are, however, inhibiting factors. Brown coal's 
high sulphur content makes the former GDR, with an 
annual output of more than 5 million tons, one of the 
worst S02 polluters in Europe, since power stations 
have no filter equipment. In addition, the quantities of 
material which have to be removed in order to extract 
the coal are increasing, causing a drop in the level of 
the water-table and an increase in the land-area being 
used. 
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/25 
A good 80% of the 23 000 mW output from power 
stations is obtained by burning brown coal. The energy 
technology used here is completely out-of-date, as are 
the carbonizing and high-temperature coking plants in 
which fuels and raw chemicals are obtained from brown 
coal. Antiquated power station technology has a very 
damaging effect on the environment. Not one power 
station in the former GDR is equipped with properly 
functioning equipment for the removal of sulphur and 
nitrogen oxides. Dust filters — if at all present — are 
not used all the time. 
The power supply system is also highly subsidized, and 
though this will change, there will be no incentive until 
then to use energy sparingly. Unduly high per capita 
primary energy consumption — almost 20% higher 
than the figure for the Federal Republic — is the inevi­
table consequence of this. 
9.2. All in all, the power supply situation in the 
former GDR may be said to be extremely critical. 
The complete reorganization of the power industry 
is urgently necessary. Sustained energy savings and 
efficient power supplies will be the key objectives. 
The power industry's installations must be thoroughly 
modernized and made technically safe, environmental­
ly friendly and economic. A different, balanced energy 
mix is required, embracing not only fossil fuels and 
renewable energies but also nuclear energy, the safety 
requirements for which must be raised to the highest 
level. The oil industry monopoly must be abolished. 
Competition is needed and must be secured wherever 
possible. 
9.3. The Commission document provides for only a 
few derogations for the energy sector. A twelve month 
transitional period is proposed merely for information 
and consultation on the prices of crude oil and pet­
roleum products and the notification of hydrocarbon 
imports and exports. The Committee endorses this 
derogation. However, two additional remarks are 
required in respect of the Commission's comments on 
the restructuring of the energy sector. Firstly, the Com­
mission states that the former GDR's gas imports from 
the USSR will rise from 8 000 million m3 to 16 000 
million m3 by the year 2000. This forecast seems to be 
over-optimistic; at any rate there is no reliable infor­
mation to corroborate such a rise. Secondly, the passage 
about the supply of fuel elements for reactors in oper­
ation should indicate not only that natural uranium is 
produced in the former GDR, but also that the USSR owns 95 % of the uranium mining company Wismuth 
AG. Even if Wismuth AG intends to cease its mining 
operations at the end of 1990, negotiations will prob­
ably have to be conducted with the USSR, especially as 
Euratom will become the owner of all special nuclear 
material in the former GDR. 
9.4. Energy policy is committed — at both national 
and international level — to overall economic objec­
tives, and must therefore make every effort to remain 
operational — or become so again — at all levels. 
Energy problems can no longer be solved overnight by 
nations going it alone. Energy policy is a long-term 
task, requiring close international cooperation and 
coordination. European cooperation is called for. This 
realization is not new, but so far it has not been 
addressed properly. For example, the European Com­
munities have still not developed a common energy 
policy, although work on the urgent tasks at hand 
— reduction of energy consumption, replacement of 
petroleum by other energy sources, swifter development 
of modern energy technology and more energy research 
— ought to have been coordinated by Member States 
long ago. 
Therefore the Committee emphatically welcomes and 
supports the call for the creation of a European energy 
community made by the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr 
Lubbers, at the European Council meeting in Dublin 
on 25 June 1990. 
10. Social affairs, education and training 
10.1. The rapid political and legal incorporation of 
the former GDR into the Federal Republic (1), will have 
to be matched by major efforts to achieve corresponding 
social integration. The Committee attaches crucial 
importance to the social aspects of the unification pro­
cess as witness the numerous Opinions in which the 
social forces represented on the Committee repeatedly 
indicated the sine qua nons for economic and social 
cohesion. The Committee Opinion on social develop­
ments in the Community in 1989 described the social 
market model and the people's Europe ethic as corner­
stones for political and social progress towards Euro­
pean Union. The Committee is also convinced that 
these factors are crucial to the Community's attractive­
ness for the fledgling democracies in Eastern Europe. 
(]) OJ No C 225, 10. 9. 1990. 
No C 41/26 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
10.2. The Committee broadly endorses the handful 
of adjustments and transitional arrangements which the 
Commission considers to be necessary in the field of 
social policy. A number of additional comments and 
suggestions on individual Commission proposals are 
set out below: 
— The Committee welcomes the immediate introduc­
tion of freedom of movement for workers without 
any transitional arrangements. Following the abol­
ition of the border between the two Germanies, it 
would be neither defensible nor practically possible 
to treat German workers differently. However, it 
should be noted that Spanish and Portuguese wor­
kers will not enjoy freedom of movement until 1993. 
— Community legislation on social security for 
migrant workers has always been immediately 
applicable on the accession of a new Member State. 
However, the Commission points out that several 
sections of the relevant Regulations [Nos 1408/71 
(EEC) and 574/72 (EEC)] will have to be adapted 
in the wake of unification. This cannot be done — 
the Commission argues — until the shape of future 
social legislation in the former GDR becomes clear. 
The Committee finds it difficult to accept this line 
of thought, for the Commission has long known 
that the Federal Republic's labour and social legis­
lation was to be transposed directly to five new 
Lander. The Committee therefore asks the Com­
mission to submit the allegedly necessary tran­
sitional arrangements without delay with a view to 
rapid adoption by the Council. 
— There is no need for any adjustments with regard 
to the equal treatment of men and women or labour 
legislation. Appropriate provisions have been in for­
ce since the introduction of German monetary, 
economic and social union. 
— The protection of workers at the workplace is now 
covered by fifteen Community Directives or pro­
posals for Directives which — insofar as they have 
already been adopted by the Council — will have 
to be incorporated into national legislation by 
31 December 1992. The Commission proposes that 
the Directives on the protection of workers from 
the risks arising from exposure to chemical, physical 
and biological agents at work should be deferred 
until 31 December 1992. The difficult conditions 
in the former GDR brought about by antiquated 
industrial plant and administrative, technical and 
training-related problems seem to rule out a reduction in this transitional period or even the 
Directives' immediate application. 
— Workers' skills will play a key role in the restructur­
ing of the East German economy. The switch from 
a centrally managed to a social market economy 
must be backed up by a large-scale skills-acquisition 
campaign which must be seen as an important 
investment in a better future. 
— Workers in the former GDR have very good paper 
qualifications. Roughly 80 % of the workforce have 
successfully completed some form of vocational 
training. However, the types of skills acquired in 
a socialist economy differ considerably from the 
requirements of a competitive market economy. 
Above all, the knowledge and experience of modern 
production, information and communications tech­
nology is lacking and must first be acquired. This 
is compounded by severe non-skills-related short­
comings, for independence, initiative and creativity 
are not required in a planned economy. Retraining 
and further training are therefore urgently required 
at all levels. This includes the right of workers 
to participate on equal terms in all Community 
education and training programmes. The Commit­
tee welcomes the fact that it will not be necessary 
to amend existing legislation in this area. It urges 
the Commission however to take steps to brief 
citizens in the five new Lander as quickly and com­
prehensively as possible about the numerous Com­
munity vocational training programmes available. 
This should be done in close liaison with the com­
petent German authorities. 
10.3 Efficient consumer protection depends crucially 
on the information given to the population of the new 
Lander. The level of the provision of such information 
should be brought into line with EC practice as soon 
as possible. Assistance should be provided in this area 
by the Federal German authorities and consumer organ­
izations, but the European Community itself should 
also launch information campaigns. 
The Committee wonders whether consumer infor­
mation should not become an integral part of the Com­
munity's education and training programmes. 
10.4 An operational system of self management for 
citizens of the former GDR will also be required if 
democratic structures are to be developed and living 
and working conditions improved. Working conditions 
should be reformed and reorganized via autonomous 
channels for the reconciliation of interests. The Com-
18. 2. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 41/27 
mittee supports the free workers' and employers' organ­
izations now being established for the first time since 
1933; they will bear a special responsibility in view 
of the difficult period of economic change and rising 
unemployment in the new Lander. They must strive to 
agree on common objectives and priorities and help to 
reconcile interests and liaise between State and indi­
vidual. 
11. Environment and nuclear safety 
11.1. In large areas of the former GDR air, water 
and soil are heavily polluted. Despite a comprehensive 
battery of environmental laws, and although protection 
of the environment was written into the constitution 
from 1972 onwards, in practical terms environmental 
concerns were only of secondary political importance. 
And the lack of an effective environment protection 
infrastructure meant that in any case there was no way 
of enforcing the laws. 
The causes of this heavy pollution are in many respects 
to be found in the system itself. In particular, the 
decision of the former GDR government to hang on to 
technologically obsolete industrial plant, to step up the 
use of brown coal and to force the pace of industrial 
production in energy-intensive sectors was a major 
contributing factor to environmental pollution. Incen­
tives to use raw materials and energy economically were 
completely lacking. 
11.2. The most serious environmental problem is the 
high level of atmospheric pollution. Annual emissions 
of S02 into the atmosphere total more than 5 million 
tons. This makes the former GDR one of Europe's 
main sources of S02 emissions. The main culprit is 
the electricity supply system, which is almost 70% 
dependent on brown coal as its primary energy source. 
High emissions of pollutants coupled with relatively 
scarce water resources have led to heavy water pollution 
and thus to water supply shortages. Only just over 
20 % of total supplies is of drinking water quality. The 
technological inadequacy, or indeed complete lack, of 
municipal and industrial water treatment plants is the 
cause of this problem. One consequence is that large 
quantities of cadmium, mercury and lead find their way 
into the Elbe and from there into the open sea. 
Soil pollution is no more encouraging. Intensive brown 
coal mining has left large tracts of wasteland in its 
wake. Their recultivation will take decades. Waste man­
agement policy has only compounded the problem. 
Whilst it is true that raw material shortages have led 
to recycling on a wide scale, there has been very little 
in the way of organized disposal for non-recycled waste. Rubbish tips are overburdened and some of them are 
a danger to ground water. 
11.3. A review of the environmental situation in the 
new Lander reveals a gloomy picture. Federal German 
environmental legislation has applied in the former 
GDR since the first State Treaty came into force. Insofar 
as Federal German legislation incorporates Community 
environmental legislation, the former GDR's environ­
mental legislation has formally been Community-com­
patible since 1 July 1990. Areas covered include environ­
mental protection, nuclear safety and radiation protec­
tion, the water industry, waste management and chemi­
cals. This affects first and foremost the construction 
and operation of plant and the associated rules and 
regulations. When the former GDR joined the Federal 
Republic, Community legislation affecting products 
and substances (e.g. the Regulation on drinking water) 
and environmental quality standards also came to apply 
in the territory of the new Lander. 
11.4. The Commission has checked close on 200 
Community Directives and Regulations on environmen­
tal matters to see whether transitional measures are 
necessary. It proposes such measures for those cases 
where the state of the environment is such that Com­
mission standards could not be complied with at the 
time of unification. This means in reality air, water and 
waste standards. 
The Committee agrees with the Commission that the 
transposition of Community legislation should be com­
pleted as swiftly as possible. However, in view of the 
economic difficulties, the requisite restructuring process 
and the frequently still hazy picture of the actual scale 
of pollution, the Committee wonders whether it would 
not make sense to introduce a flexibility clause in 
connection with the proposed transitional periods. This 
would enable the Commission to act quickly and unbu-
reaucratically, for example, in extending deadlines or 
taking additional measures as new knowledge came to 
light. The flexibility clause should, however, only apply 
to legislation relating to plant or equipment and not to 
legislation governing the make-up of goods and product 
quality. 
11.5. It is proposed that nuclear safety, unlike the 
environmental sector, is not to be subject to any tran­
sitional measures. The Euratom Treaty entered into 
force in the five new Lander when they joined the 
Federal Republic and Articles 33, 35, 36 and 37 of the 
Treaty are therefore to apply there, too. It will thus be 
possible to immediately close plants which fail to com­
ply with Community standards of protection. The clear 
line to be followed by the Commission here is welcomed 
unreservedly by the Committee. 
12. ECSC 
12.1. The integration of the East German steel indus­
try into the Community system will cause serious indus-
No C 41/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 2. 91 
trial, social and regional problems. The EC Commission 
estimates that none of the plants at a total of 15 sites 
is likely to be viable in its present form. They need 
to be modernized, restructured and rationalized. The 
Committee endorses this analysis, and in particular the 
Commission's conclusion that many jobs will inevitably 
be lost. 
12.2. In view of the difficult and time-consuming 
restructuring process the Committee considers the 
Commission's proposals to be not comprehensive 
enough and not adequately tailored to the task. 
Although the Commission is prepared to apply ECSC 
instruments to combat the likely upheaval in the East 
German steel industry and pay out reconversion aid in 
the form of structural fund grants, it intends to be 
strict in applying the rules for aid to the steel industry 
established by Decision 322/89/ECSC (which allows aid 
for closures, research, environmental protection and 
regional investment only under certain circumstances). 
Thus, operating losses cannot be covered and neither 
investment aid nor operational aid, even during the 
period of return to profitability, can be granted. Despite 
these additional remarks the Committee notes with 
satisfaction that the Commission has lost no time in 
putting the ECSC instruments into practice. 
12.3. The Commission's view that the steel firms in 
the five new Lander should be weaned off aid as quickly 
as possible is certainly the right one. However, in view 
of the difficult and protracted rehabilitation process, a 
high degree of flexibility will be required. There have 
already been transitional arrangements in other new 
Member States, especially Spain, so similar arrange­
ments should be made by the Commission to solve 
restructuring problems in this particular case. Such 
arrangements would without question give considerable 
support to the steel industry's rehabilitation. 
13. Financial aspects of German unification 
13.1. Politicians, economists and the public at large 
have for months now been grappling with the burning 
question of what German unification is to cost and 
how it is all to be financed. In the other countries of 
the Community there is a growing concern that the 
financing of German unity will have an adverse effect 
on money and capital markets and on prices in those 
countries. After all, billions of Deutschmark will have to be found in the medium term to modernize and 
extend infrastructure in the new Lander (transport, 
telecommunications, local services), eliminate the enor­
mous damage done to the environment and clean up 
the soil contamination (forecasts talk about 20 to 30 000 
suspected old dumps). The enormous funds required for 
private investment and the high cost of housebuilding 
should not be forgotten, either. 
13.2. The third volume of the Commission's paper 
contains initial information about the financial impact 
of German unity on the Community budget. The Com­
mission rightly points out that its figures are provisional 
estimates, which by necessity had to draw on question­
able and fragmentary data. Agriculture takes up a par­
ticularly large slice of expenditure and according to 
Commission estimates will devour anything between 
700 and 1 250 million ECU in 1991 (because of adminis­
trative deadlines 1991 will have only eleven months). 
This wide margin is indicative of the difficulties 
encountered in estimating the future pattern of con­
sumption and trends in production in the former GDR. 
On top of this, the sum of 1 000 million ECU has been 
earmarked for the special programme for the structural 
development of the newly acceded territory in 1991. 
Additional expenditure in other policy areas is put by 
the Commission at a further 150 million ECU — the 
presumed amount of the former GDR's contribution to 
the Community's own resources. In view of the numer­
ous imponderables which are inevitably attached to 
these estimates, the Committee regards the figures as a 
rough guide, which may have its merits but can barely 
stand up to factual analysis. 
13.3. On 7 November 1990 the budget committee of 
the German Bundestag (lower Chamber) held a hearing 
about the cost and financing of German unity. The 
Committee would have appreciated a Commission rep­
resentative giving the Community viewpoint at its hear­
ing. Being a well-established member of the European 
Community the Federal Republic has assumed a special 
responsibility, both politically and economically. 
According to the Committee this also implies giving 
close consideration to the possible economic effect of 
German unification on other Community countries and 
making allowance for this in the future formulation of 
German economic, fiscal and social policy. 
In the run-up to 1992 and the second stage of the 
planned EMU the Committee would recall that it has 
repeatedly called for greater economic convergence and 
closer coordination of economic policies. The need for 
this is greater now than ever before. The Committee 
182.91 Officialjournalofthe European Communities NoC^29 
would appeal totheEederalCovernmenttotaloe the 
initiative once more and explain to the European 
Council thefmancial policy decisions to be tal^en to 
meet the cost of Cerman unity and the overall economic 
Done at Brussels, 20 November 1990. 
1. Ceneral comments 
1.1. The Committee can endorse the proposal which 
rightly linl^s the protection of health and safety of 
pregnant v^omen,or women v^hohaverecentlygiven 
birth,with the maintenance of employment and income 
rights. Theproposalis also welcomemthatitintro 
duces measures which mal^e maternity easier and which 
could help to redress the demographic imbalance affect 
ing most EC member States, not least the ageing of the 
population. consequences for other member States. This first step 
would certainly dispelanumber of fears and goalong 
way towards getting member States towers together 
even more closely in the economic field, too. 
1.2. In line with thenghts and measures foreseen 
intheSocialCharter and accompanying social action 
programme, the proposal is also in accord with the 
views expressed in relevant Committee Opinions as 
regards 
— basic Community social rights^),inwhich it was 
stressed^the rights of child, mother and family to 
legal and economic protection, 
— the burden of proofs, in which it was stated that 
good employment practices and modern personnel 
techniques needed to deter potential discrimination 
on se^ grounds, Opinion on theproposal for a Council Directive concerning theprotection at workof 
pregnant women or women who have recently given births 
(91BC^1B08) 
On 22 October 1990, the Council of the European Communities decided to consult the 
Economic and Social Committee, under Article 119A of theTreaty establishing the European 
Economic Commumty,on the abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Social, Eamily,Educational and Cultural Affairs,which was responsible for 
preparing the Committee^sworl^ on the subject, adopted its Opinion on leoNovember!990. 
The rapporteur was Airs RangoniAiachiavelh. 
At its 281st plenary session (meeting of 20 November 1990) the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following Opinion with no dissentingvotes but with five abstentions. 
^oi^e^ig^ni^D^ ^oi^^e^7,^ ^^^^^i^