A4-0338/96

Resolution on participation of citizens and social players in the European Union's institutional system and the IGC

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Institutional Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Regional Policy and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (A4-0338/96),

A. whereas participation by citizens is a corner-stone of European political culture; whereas, however, in spite of endeavours to date, the Union is still experiencing a democratic deficit and is undergoing a crisis of confidence on the part of its citizens,

B. whereas the success of the European enterprise will depend on an improvement in its decision-making capability and greater participation by its citizens, in particular through the extension of the powers of the European Parliament,

C. whereas the Union needs to regain purpose in order to restore the confidence of its citizens and arouse a desire to participate in a project geared not only to external and internal security but also to finding solutions to the problems of unemployment, exclusion, environmental damage and crumbling social protection systems; whereas it must therefore embody a genuine common commitment to promoting employment, equality of opportunity between men and women, solidarity and sustainable development,

D. whereas participation, particularly on the basis of equality between men and women, helps to enhance the status of the democratic system,

E. whereas the European Parliament must take the lead by embarking on new initiatives aimed at:

- clarifying the implementation of the subsidiarity principle in terms intelligible to public opinion,

- bringing Union policies into the forum of public debate,

- encouraging assessment of those policies,

- promoting the general exercise of rights of consultation,

F. whereas countries which have chosen to belong to the Union must themselves encourage participation on their territory to make the Union system work as well as fostering more intensive cross-border exchanges and contacts,

G. whereas the protagonists of civil society have a key role to play in shaping a European consciousness by helping to disseminate information, weigh up contrasting ideas, and work out common interests,

H. whereas the Community institutions must continue their efforts to get in touch with citizens,

I. whereas the present IGC must afford an opportunity to lay down both the principles governing the participation requirement and some essential means of meeting it,

I. PUBLIC DEBATE ON UNION POLICIES

1. Believes that European citizenship is indissolubly bound up with democratic debate;

A. European social model

2. Takes the view that the Union cannot arouse a desire to participate unless it makes its mark as a social union as well as an economic union; considers, therefore, bearing in mind the prospects for the introduction of the future single currency and enlargement, that the Union's social responsibilities should be laid down without delay to complement those of the Member States;

3. Recalls its position, as adopted in its resolution of 13 March 1996 embodying (i) its opinion on the convening of the Intergovernmental Conference, and (ii) an evaluation of the work of the Reflection Group and a definition of the political priorities of the European Parliament with a view to the Intergovernmental Conference ((OJ C 96, 1.4.1996, p. 77.)), favouring the immediate incorporation into the Treaty of the essential principles of the Community charter of fundamental social rights; proposes moreover that a procedure be set up to enable structured dialogue between the Community Institutions and representatives of the social players aimed at securing the concrete implementation of those social rights;

B. Pact for employment

4. Fundamentally welcomes the action of the Commission President in proposing a pact of trust extending to both sides of industry;

5. Calls for wide-ranging collective discussion on the ways of lending substance to such a pact:

- Community responsibilities with respect to employment must be clarified;

- the organization of labour markets must be such as to make them more flexible and increase solidarity with a view to integrating the unemployed, improving job security, developing training, and encouraging mobility;

- a Community initiative to secure reductions in working hours should be launched in accordance with Parliament's resolution of 18 September 1996 on the reduction and adaptation of working hours ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 8.));

- monetary, budgetary, and structural policies must have a beneficial impact in terms of job creation;

- joint financial resources, in particular for regional development, must be increased, implying a need for the establishment of a common fiscal instrument;

- in parallel with the establishment of the European Central Bank, efforts should be made to promote the development of a European Investment Fund to finance European projects as recommended in the White Paper;

6. Points out that much will depend on the success of the pact and repeats its wish for a new Employment Committee to be set up alongside the present Monetary Committee, through which the Ministers of Economic Affairs and Finance and Social Affairs would consult the social partners who are representative at European level at least once a year;

C. Democratic control over economic policy decisions

7. Believes that the responsibilities of the Council and Commission for charting the broad economic guidelines require tighter democratic control;

8. Proposes that the Annual Economic Report be dealt with in an opinion to be delivered by the European Parliament; proposes that the Commission draw up a document in the light of that opinion and submit different options, including their budgetary implications; proposes that the Council should thereafter take its decision, explicitly in response to the opinions submitted;

D. Debate on forthcoming key events

9. Proposes, to enable citizens to look ahead to the decisions which the Union will be called upon to take, that the next landmarks, including the change to the euro, revision of the financial perspective, enlargement, and consolidation of political union, be debated comprehensively at an early date;

E. Annual conference

10. Believes that there must be very wide-ranging regular debate on all Union policies to ensure that citizens can have a say when shared problems are being considered;

11. Considers, therefore, that it would be useful to hold an annual debate in the form of a special part-session of Parliament, attended by the Commission and Council, on the general guidelines for economic policy, and that the debate should be preceded by a preparatory conference of the European Parliament with representatives of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions;

12. Believes that preparations should be made for the conference also at national level, under democratic procedures chosen by each Member State;

13. Considers that it should be responsible for convening the conference, handling the necessary administration, and implementing a public information campaign on its activities;

II. INFORMING CITIZENS

A. General principles

14. Notes that the right to information is indispensable to the effective operation of democracy, and underlines the importance of the proposals on transparency and openness in the European Institutions contained in its abovementioned resolution of 13 March 1996;

15. Points out that there is a need to respond to other components of the right to information, including the right to a good education, knowledge-sharing, communication between citizens and between them and the institutions enabling every person to exercise their capacity for judgement;

B. Joint responsibility

16. Believes that diversity in information policies will prove conducive to the debate on the future of the Union;

17. Points out that the duty to provide information about European integration is not a matter for the Community institutions alone, but rests also with national bodies;

18. Calls, therefore, on the Member States to take responsibility for improving the flow of information on the European enterprise;

19. Takes the view that the Community institutions, in particular the European Parliament and the Commission, must help to uphold the right to information; considers that enforcement of that right is derived from criteria of general interest; believes that the institutions must accordingly:

- ensure that political institutions, systems involving the use of experts, and lobbies operate in a transparent way;

- promote a policy of basic and continuing education for citizenship geared specifically to European affairs;

- pool and employ the necessary resources for the purposes of monitoring and assessment;

- provide for improved knowledge and information, in particular for young people, on the history of the different Member States;

C. Quality of information

20. Suggests that information about the European enterprise can be significantly improved by:

- promoting arrangements between the media, the Community and the Member States aimed at improving perception of the reality of the European enterprise and encouraging political debate on it;

- releasing the resources necessary for high-quality statistical information;

- setting up a network of interinstitutional information centres, to be as decentralized and accessible as possible;

D. Policy assessment

21. Stresses the importance of a general principle whereby policies conducted on a Europe-wide basis would have to be assessed, and proposes to that end the adoption of an addendum to the Treaty, assessment being the process of gathering and exchanging information from many different sources with a view to determining the extent to which the impact of Community measures is consistent with the objectives being pursued;

22. Proposes accordingly that the European Parliament and the Commission should be entrusted with the assessment of Community policies in cooperation with the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions and with the assistance of a scientific institute of independent experts to investigate, as necessary, the impact of Community policies;

23. Calls on the Commission to consider how the work of its own or independent monitoring centres might be improved to enable citizens to derive benefit;

III. RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND FORMS OF CONSULTATION AND CONCERTED ACTION

A. Right to freedom of expression

24. Stresses the importance of a general principle proclaiming the right of every citizen and every representative organization to draw up and promote their opinions and to receive replies directly or indirectly, without that right however implying direct participation in decision-making;

25. Points out that the right to freedom of expression must be capable of being exercised in each Member State and each region with public institutions, Community information centres and representative organizations, as well as through cross-border exchange networks;

B. Social dialogue and consultation

26. Considers that the social dialogue between social partners provided for pursuant to Article 3 of the Social Protocol must be lent a new impetus and strengthened as part of a general social policy to enable the two branches of the legislative authority to play their full part;

27. Hopes that consultation of the associations, prior to decision-making, can be organized so as to impart to it a genuine content and genuine follow-up; considers that it must be associated with that concerted action;

28. Considers that the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions should be made expressly responsible for coordinating consultations with social organizations and regional or local authorities, summarizing their opinions and passing them on to the Community institutions, and disseminating information originating from Community institutions in appropriately broad circles; wishes regularly to consult the ESC and the COR in the exercise of its legislative and monitoring functions;

29. Calls for the role of Europe-wide specialized committees to be fully recognized; hopes in particular that its own committees will be permitted to consult these specialized committees at first hand; considers that support should be given to enable such committees to be set up;

30. Calls on the Member States to remove the obstacles preventing elected representatives and protagonists of civil society from taking part in strength in territorial partnerships and measures under the Structural Funds;

C. Effects of consultation

31. Urges the Commission and the Council to bear in mind, like Parliament, that they must take account of and respond to the opinions, expressed by ordinary citizens and by organizations representative of social players and local authorities, since the duty to remain genuinely in touch with citizens is inherent in the offices conferred on them;

32. Points out that the opinions in question should be public and believes accordingly that the summary thereof should be considered at the annual conference and serve as a point of reference for Parliament when it exercises its supervisory power;

IV. REPRESENTATION OF CITIZENS

A. Elected representation

33. Points out that it has called for an electoral system serving to bring Members closer to citizens by combining in a similar manner in each Member State the principles of proportional representation and territorial constituencies; and considers similarly that the practice of holding several elective and other offices should be curtailed and a common statute established for Members of the European Parliament;

34. Warns against the tendency to allow directives to become more and more detailed, and hopes that directives will again assume a general character leaving the fullest possible scope for national implementing preferences;

B. Representation by social players

35. Points out that political institutions must observe the principle that social players and organizations are independent; notes that the role of the former is not to bring the latter into being, but rather to provide them with a legal framework and the means of obtaining information and gaining real access to the institutions;

36. Proposes that the composition of the Economic and Social Committee should take greater account of the wide range of social, environmental and cultural associations; considers accordingly that, before the mandates of the Economic and Social Committee are renewed, systematic use should be made of Article 195(2) of the EC Treaty, which provides for the possibility of obtaining the opinion of European bodies which are representative of the various economic and social sectors, and that Parliament should be reported to on the matter;

37. Proposes that in future the legislative process should take greater account of the opinions of the Economic and Social Committee and that it should be more intensively consulted;

38. Points out that the right to form associations is central to European citizenship and that it has already called for that right to be recognized in the Treaty; calls for the plan to define the legal status of European non-profit-making associations to be brought to a rapid conclusion;

39. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to give practical expression to the foregoing guidelines in the proceedings of the IGC;

40. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the parliaments and governments of the Member States, workers' and employers' organizations, the Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions.