31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/29 
Opinion on the prospects for the Communities' policies in the 1980s 
The opinion of the Committee is not based on any text. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
At its 185th plenary session held on 25 and 26 February 1981 the Committee, acting on a 
proposal from the Bureau, decided to deliver an opinion on the abovementioned subject 
on its own initiative. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
191st plenary session held in Brussels on 28 and 29 October 1981. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the decision taken at its plenary 
session of 25 and 26 February 1981, following a 
proposal from its Bureau, to issue on its own 
initiative an opinion on the prospects for Community 
policies in the 1980s and to form a sub-committee in 
accordance with Article 17 of its Rules of Procedure 
for the purpose of producing a draft version of this 
opinion, 
Having regard to the oral report of the rapporteur, 
Mr De Bruyn, 
Having regard to the discussions at its 191st plenary 
session, held on 27 and 28 October 1981, 
Whereas on 24 June 1981 the Commission published 
its report on the mandate of 30 May 1980; 
Whereas several resolutions of the European 
Parliament in recent months also take a stand on the 
issues connected with the mandate of 30 May 
1980; 
Whereas the Commission's guidelines in its report of 
24 June 1981 are to be the subject of the discussions 
of the Community institutions in the closing months 
of 1981; 
Whereas in view of this and the Commission's report 
it is vital that the economic and social interests 
represented on the Economic and Social Committee 
make known their positions and their basic concerns regarding the prospects for the development of the 
European Community and state their views on the 
priority economic and social policies that must be 
adopted in order to make an effective contribution to 
the reflections of the different Community 
authorities; 
Whereas the Economic and Social Committee, in 
doing this, is following the example of its positions 
adopted in previous years in similar circumstances 
and, in particular, in 1975, when the opinion on the 
European union was drawn up and in 1979 in its 
opinion on the Dell Report on the European 
institutions ('Report of the Three Wise Men'); 
Whereas the Economic and Social Committee thus 
intends to make an original contribution to the 
direction of Community policies during the present 
decade, 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 95 votes to 7, with 2 abstentions: 
I. THE CHALLENGES FOR THE COMMUNITY IN 
THE 1980s 
As we enter the 1980s, Europe is suffering from a 
serious economic and social crisis which may make 
the very institutions of the Member States tremble. 
The Community and its Member States are faced 
with problems which may undermine our economic 
and social system and threaten the functioning, or 
even the very existence, of our democratic 
societies. 
No C 343/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
The Economic and Social Front 
Rising unemployment, which now affects some 
9 million people, or the equivalent of more than the 
entire farming polulation of the Community, is 
destroying the hopes of an increasing number of 
individuals and families of leading a decent life and 
achieving personal happiness and fulfilment. 
At the same time, it is threatening more and more the 
foundations of our democratic societies, which are 
based on active participation by citizens in 
economic, social and political matters. 
Inflation remains high; this is having a serious affect 
on the standard of living, particularly on that of 
people with moderate incomes. 
The economic and social imbalances between the 
different regions of the Community are getting 
worse. The decline of old industries is leading to 
stagnation in numerous regions. 
Economically, the Community is losing ground 
to other large industrialized or industrializing 
countries. 
The accelerated development of production 
infrastructure in new industrialized countries is 
leading to new sources of competition. 
The Community has been unable to adjust its 
economic structures adequately to the problems 
arising from the rise in energy prices and the pace of 
technological change; this has had repercussions on 
the balance-of-payments deficit of the Member 
States. Such economic imbalances have led to an 
investment shortage which, in particular, has made it 
impossible to solve the Community's regional 
imbalances. This has led to a loss of confidence in the 
Community. 
Economic growth, the source of yesterday's 
prosperity, has now generally levelled off and even 
given way to a downturn in certain countries and 
regions. 
All these aspects interact on each other. None can be 
solved in isolation, and their co-existence makes the 
solving of any one of them individually much more 
difficult. ' 
The political and institutional front 
Concern among business and labour leaders, and 
discouragement among potential investors and future business heads, is growing about the uncertain 
future of the European economy. 
As economic conditions and the world political 
situation have changed, European integration has 
become more difficult. The political objective of a 
European union has been pushed into the 
background. But this threatens the internal cohesion 
of the Community. If the process of European 
integration no longer has a political target, the 
solidarity of the Member States, which was appealed 
to by the 'Three Wise Men' in 1979, will be 
threatened and, in the long run, doomed to failure. 
This is all the more important because the 
Community and its members will have to face up to a 
growing number of challenges both at home and 
abroad in the present decade. 
Public opinion is more and more critical of the 
Community's image, as characterized partly by the 
considerable slowness in taking decisions in the 
institutions in general and at the Council of Ministers 
in particular, or even by the blocking of many 
Community policies. 
The lack of solidarity between the Member States, 
who are unable to transform either the guidelines set 
by the European Council or the initiatives of the 
Commission and European Parliament into 
decisions by the Council of Ministers, is evidence of 
a lack of political will at European level to attain 
fundamental Community objectives. 
This lack of political will is preventing political 
circles and economic and social interest groups from 
giving real support to a Community approach in any 
field. Thus there is no real awareness of Europe as 
such in either broadcasting or the teaching 
profession. 
These dangers require of the Community speedier 
decisions and more efficient action than in the 
past. 
The new geographical dimension of the growing 
Community 
The first enlargement of the Community in 1973, the 
second in 1981 and the prospects of a third 
enlargement within the next few years have not 
brought about the changes to the Council's decision­
making machinery and the other institutions' internal 
structures and administration which are now 
essential. As a result, the Community seems to be 
more and more 'ungovernable'. 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/31 
Financial Capacity 
Unless something new is done, the Community will 
very shortly (in 1982/83) reach the limit of the 
finances available to it for its own purposes. 
The world scene 
The Community is faced by substantial changes in 
the world economic system characterized by (a) the 
rise of the new industrial countries (NICs) and (b) a 
redistribution of wealth due to the transfer of 
resources to oil and commodity-producing 
countries. 
This has meant the transfer of certain types of 
production to the Third World, which has made it 
more difficult * for industry and agriculture in the 
Community to be competitive. The Committee shares 
the Commission's view expressed in point 7 of its 
report on the mandate of 30 May 1980 that 'the 
changes in the world economy and the upheavals that 
have occurred in international relations have shown 
that existing policies will have to be developed or 
revised'. 
In seeking the setting-up of a new world economic 
order, the countries of the Third World have 
formulated requests which are likely to have a 
considerable impact on the Community's present 
position. 
II. THE COMMUNITY'S RESPONSE 
The implementation of Community policies 
The problems described above pose a challenge 
which cannot be solved by one or several Member 
States acting in isolation. Only the Community as 
such — which is still the number one trading bloc in 
the world with the biggest population and an original 
social system, and which possesses a vast capacity for 
innovation due to the skills of its business leaders, 
technicians and workers — has the resources 
necessary to compete with the other big power blocs 
and make an effective contribution towards solving 
such problems — if it rediscovers its past solidarity 
and political will. 
Its response, which must be realistic but effective, 
must be directed as follows: 
(a) Community policies which have already been 
decided on by the institutions, and which are 
often endorsed in the guidelines issued by the European Council, must finally be put into 
effect on the basis of an overall approach 
ensuring proper consistency between the 
Community's various sectoral policies. To 
bring this about, the Council must use its 
powers to take decisions and provide the 
financial resources necessary. 
(b) Where it is clear that the Member States have 
been or are unable to cope with challenges on 
their own, their policies must be given a more 
Community dimension. 
Such action must therefore be concentrated on a 
limited number of policies which could be pursued 
with more likelihood of success at Community 
level. 
To this end, the Community must be given powers to 
decide within reasonable periods of time and to use 
the financial resources necessary. 
Thus the Community's strategy for the 1980s depends 
on there being a clear definition of certain policies to 
be conducted jointly and the commitment of those 
with authority to take decisions to implement such 
policies. 
Like the Commission (point 4 of the report on the 
mandate of 30 May 1980) the ESC would stress that it 
is up to the Community institutions to 'resolve 
without hesitation to fulfil the political alliance 
entered into by each Member State when it signed the 
original Treaties or the Treaties of Accession'. 
The powers of the Member States and the convergence 
of national policies 
It is, however, obvious that in large areas of 
economic and social policy most of the power is still 
in the hands of national authorities. 
In this context, the Community must nevertheless 
bring about an adequate degree of convergence of the 
really important policies pursued by the Member 
States (see in detail under IV 1). 
At the general level, and in order to make the action 
taken by the Community and the Member States 
really effective, it must be established beyond 
dispute: 
— which areas are to remain the responsibility of the 
Member States and be subject to a convergence of 
policies coupled with certain Community 'back­
up' machinery, and 
No C 343/32 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
— which areas are to be subject to action by the 
Community respecting the basic principles of the 
Rome Treaties. 
III. THE BASIC AIMS OF COMMUNITY POLICIES 
To get the economy moving again and provide more 
jobs 
Europe must mobilize all the resources at its disposal 
(in technology, inventive capacity, labour and 
capital) to give a new impetus to economic activity. It 
must therefore fight inflation, strengthen the 
Community market and make its industries and the 
other sectors of its economy (e.g. distribution 
network, services, tourist industry, agriculture) more 
competitive so as to help at the same time towards re­
establishing a high level of employment as soon as 
possible — the eventual objective still being full 
employment. 
At the same time, this process must be accompanied 
by measures to promote social justice with an eye to 
safeguarding and, if possible, improving present 
levels of prosperity; this includes ensuring that the 
different regions and sectors of the economy develop 
in a harmonious manner. 
The Community must remain the expression of a 
Europe which has a sufficient sense of solidarity to 
offer a satisfactory standard of living to all its 
citizens, which is really united and able to play its 
proper role in the world and which has an innovation 
capacity enabling it to face up to international 
competition. 
No Member State is capable of solving on its own all 
the problems of the economic and social crisis which 
everyone is suffering from to some degree or other. It 
is therefore vital for any national attempts at solving 
these problems to be carried out with the 
Community's interests in mind. 
Political, economic and social efforts must 
concentrate on making an effective contribution 
towards solving the major problems confronting the 
Community and the Member States. 
The essential economic and social objectives of the 
Community should be part of the political objectives 
of the European Union to be developed during the 
1980s as a factor for peace and as a means of 
promoting respect for our democratic and pluralist 
systems. 
The Community will thus remain a region in the 
world where there will be a chance of achieving 'an 
ever closer union between the peoples of Europe'. The economic and social groups of the Community 
are ready to assume their responsibilities within the 
framework of permanent and prior consultations 
with the Community authorities in the 1980s. They 
therefore expect these authorities, and especially the 
Council of Ministers, to take decisions and act. 
IV. PRIORITY COMMUNITY POLICIES TO BE 
CARRIED OUT 
The Community must take action on two levels: 
A. The Community and the convergence of national 
economic policies 
It is vital to develop a consistent Community socio­
economic policy. 
To do this, the national economic and monetary 
policies of the Member States must be coordinated 
and developed within a framework for convergence 
which is sufficiently binding to oblige the Member 
States to comply with it and gear their national 
policies to a consistent plan of action involving, 
among other things, investments and competition 
between industries. Such policies must complement, 
and not contradict, each other. 
Such convergence requires priority to be given, in 
national budgetary policies, to 'investment' 
expenditure, as opposed to expenditure on public 
and private 'consumption'. The Community's own 
policies involving financial intervention must also be 
included here. 
All Community and national policies generally 
should recognize the importance of increasing 
profitable investment, which is necessary if there is to 
be any return to growth. This increase will need to 
come from both the private and the public sectors. 
It is important, therefore, that the tendency of 
governments to cut expenditure on investment for 
purely budgetary reasons be reconsidered. 
The Community must see that the Member States do 
not rebuild trade barriers between each other or use 
certain measures, such as some State aids, to distort 
competition between their own industries. If 
necessary, it should step in itself to stop this 
happening. The aim of the Member States must be to 
maintain and improve the competitiveness of 
European industry on world markets. This would be 
made easier if the Commission could provide 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/33 
continous information on aid given by the Member 
States. 
What must be done is to bring about a sufficiently 
binding degree of convergence of national economic 
policies for the short and medium term as far as 
objectives are concerned while at the same time 
recognizing that the means used by the Member 
States to achieve these common objectives will 
differ. 
This convergence must also cover Member States' aid 
policies for certain sectors, so that Community rules 
can be laid down in advance for everyone to 
follow. 
Fields covered must include both job creation and 
restoring business competitiveness and economic 
growth. Other areas to be covered must be external 
equilibrium and stability. All this means that 
inflation and public sector borrowing must be 
controlled and the European Monetary System 
strengthened. 
This will involve closer cooperation between the 
Member States and the Community leading to the 
institutional (second) stage of the EMS. In particular, 
the setting-up of a European Monetary Fund and 
expanded use of the ECU must be examined and the 
cooperation bodies scheduled for this second stage 
established. 
On the international front the strengthening of the 
EMS must be accompanied by efforts to smooth out 
currency fluctuations against the dollar and the yen 
in order to limit excessive oscillations on the free 
market and produce a new, more stable international 
monetary equilibrium. 
This convergence of national economic and social 
policies must be carried out on the basis of an 
analysis of the economic and monetary situation of 
all the EEC Member States founded on the principles 
of the 'convergence' decision of 18 February 1974 
and the medium-term economic policy programme 
resulting from it. 
The most acute problem in this context is linked with 
the successive oil shocks whose effects have been felt 
since 1973 and which have brought about a massive 
and persistent, indeed increasing, transfer of 
resources to the OPEC countries. 
The Community's balance-of-payments deficit, 
which goes hand in hand with the enormous budget 
deficits of the Member States, must be combatted by 
massive and selective investments, an adaptation of economic structures, the removal of barriers to intra-
and extra-Community trade, whether these be 
administrative, technical or of another nature, the 
development of replacement resources, and the 
saving of energy, which could lead to a renewal of 
production facilities and a moderation of the growth 
in costs (Doc. COM(81) 95 final, pp. 8 and 9. 
B. Action to be taken by the Community itself 
The Community must redefine the means at its 
disposal and reactivate the solidarity of the Member 
States and peoples of Europe around a certain 
number of common prospects. 
1. A coherent nucleus of priority Community 
economic and social policies 
The Community must, after wide-ranging 
consultations with economic and social interest 
groups, implement a coherent nucleus of priority 
economic and social policies. This requires the 
restoration of mutual confidence between the 
authorities and peoples of the Member States and 
between national governments and the Community. 
On a more political plane there must be a sense of 
solidarity with Community measures, which are 
carried out by joint institutions and with the 
Community's own resources and which cannot be 
carried out by the Member States alone. 
With 10 members now and the prospect of another 
two countries joining in the next few years, the 
Community, to safeguard its own cohesion and its 
internal stability, must take the steps necessary to 
remain operational and enable the new Member 
States to accept existing Community laws and 
policies. 
2. The extent of Community action 
Economic and social priorities should fall under two 
headings: 
The 'internal' aspect 
This should involve the completion and development 
of the internal market to stimulate internal demand 
No C 343/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
and the stepping-up of certain Community policies 
which have already been begun. 
The priority policies must be developed and adapted 
in line with the aim of maintaining and creating jobs 
in the Community. To do this, economic growth will 
have to be re-established, inflation will have to be 
combatted, the Community's existing financial 
instruments will have to be strengthened, new ones 
will have to be set up where necessary, and all 
Community measures will have to form part of an 
integrated multiannual programme. 
The 'external' aspect 
This should involve the maintenance (or restoration) 
of the competitiveness of European industries and 
enabling a massive and balanced flow of trade 
between Europe and all the other economic regions 
of the world, such as OPEC, North America, Japan 
and Comecon. This set of priorities should be 
embodied in a Community trade policy which 
ensures reciprocal advantages for the Community 
and its trading partners. 
C. The Community's industrial policy 
Absolute priority must be given here to framing a 
selective policy for private and public investments 
likely to create favourable conditions for an 
economic recovery; the aim should be to make 
European firms more competitive and profitable and 
develop the internal market, all conditions necessary 
for promoting a Community employment policy. 
To this end the Community must help bring about a 
suitable economic climate. 
The Community's industrial policy in its widest sense 
covers all measures to help develop its economic 
activity. Its watchwords must be adjustment, 
innovation, openness towards the rest of the world 
and defence of the Community's interests. 
It must be part of a 'grand design' embracing the 
various Community measures, and taking account of the initiatives of the Member States. This grand 
design will focus in particular on small and medium-
sized businesses which are very innovative and 
consequently have a potential for creating jobs. 
Action should concentrate on manufacturing 
industry, which has been particularly affected by the 
present crisis, and whose competitiveness is vital to 
the generation of jobs. 
In particularly promising areas, such as energy 
production, energy saving, the environment, data 
processing and communications, microelectronics 
and, in certain Member States, building, stress must 
be laid on speeding up both Community research and 
the financing of certain pilot schemes. 
It is also important that there should be Community 
coordination of the programmes of the Member 
States and a follow-up to such coordination, in order 
to avoid wasteful competition between them. In 
many of these industries, it will be impossible to 
compete with the United States and Japan unless the 
Community acts as a unit. 
It is equally essential that the Community coordinate 
the actions taken to ease the re-organization and 
running-down of certain industries. The model might 
be what the Community is doing with e.g. its special 
retraining assistance for the redundant, its temporary 
relaxation of its rules on competition for ailing 
industries in accordance with the Treaties and the 
progressive limitation of State aids. 
1. The internal market 
Like the Commission, the Committee considers that 
a modern and dynamic industrial sector in Europe 
requires a single integrated market as this will allow 
firms to benefit from outlets on a continental scale 
and to invest with the same degree of security as their 
American or Japanese competitors. 
The Community must therefore complete the 
common market by eliminating barriers of all kinds, 
be they technical, legal, administrative or others, and 
open up public purchasing more. At the same time, it 
must seize the opportunities offered by a larger 
market of 10, and soon 12, countries and by the rise 
in internal demand which will result if the 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/35 
Community manages to develop a regional policy 
which will remove existing inequalities. 
Like the Commission the Committee thinks that the 
full potential of the vast market offered by the 
Community should be tapped, e. g. by setting 
common standards and exploiting all the 
opportunities offered by public procurement. 
The Community must help the Member States to 
overcome investment bottlenecks in certain 
industries (due to administrative and other obstacles) 
by pursuing a policy of research and information 
designed to enable industries in the Member States to 
use new production processes developed with the 
help of EEC aid. 
Support from the Community to help restructure 
certain ailing industries must aim at cushioning the 
shock caused by a profound change in demand and 
making such restructuring possible within reasonable 
time limits. 
Particular attention must be paid to aid to develop 
new industries through measures which are 
compatible with the machinery of the market 
place. 
Applying the competition rules more consistently to 
industrial aid would assist the drive to modernize 
production machinery (Commission report on the 
mandate of 30 May 1980, point 16). 
2. External economic relations 
Such action on the domestic front must be 
accompanied by the adoption and defence of a 
common European position towards other countries 
and regions of the world. The Community must 
concentrate here on measures which are particularly 
urgent and necessary so that its economy in general 
and its industry in particular are not weakened at 
world level. 
The most urgent things to be done are: 
Ongoing discussions between the Community, the 
USA and other leading industrial countries so that 
they can keep each other informed about matters of 
common interest. At international negotiations concerning Europe's 
supplies of raw materials, the Community must try, 
more so than in the past, to conclude effective and 
equitable agreements which take account of the 
interests of both sides. 
The Community must pursue a commercial and 
cooperation policy of openness towards the rest of 
the world without, however, losing sight of its own 
interests. For instance, the generalized system of 
preferences (GSP) must be applied more selectively 
to certain new industrial countries. The reciprocity of 
advantages and disadvantages must be kept firmly in 
mind during negotiations with these countries. 
Faced with the onslaught on the world market of 
certain large industrial countries coupled, in the case 
of some (e.g. Japan), with a protectionist policy as 
regards their domestic market, the Community as 
such cannot stand to one side and allow a 
protectionist reaction form certain Member States 
(which is already taking shape) threatening the unity 
of the Community market and international trade as 
a whole. 
The Community as such must therefore be the only 
body responsible for discussing and directing trading 
relations with these countries. 
It seems a good idea to involve the appropriate 
GATT authorities in the solving of trade policy 
differences. Such a move may lead to the creation of 
an objective, international jurisprudence. 
The Community's efforts must concentrate in the 
medium term on improving the competitiveness of 
European firms and helping them adjust rapidly to 
the changes taking place on the world market. 
To facilitate the access of European industry to the 
markets in these countries the Community should 
provide European exporters with specific back-up 
information EEC delegations overseas should be 
equipped to provide a constant stream of industrial, 
technological and scientific information on local 
investment trends and technical developments. 
D. Labour and social policy 
1. The Community and "concerted action' 
The Community's policy here, which will be just as 
important in the 1980s as other priority policies such 
as that for industry, must be made operational 
No C 343/36 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
through appropriate regulating decisions and the 
mobilization of adequate financial resources. It must 
include wide-ranging consultations between the 
Community institutions and the two sides of industry 
organized at European level. 
There should therefore be European 'guideline-
directives' laying down the general goals to be 
achieved, which would be implemented at national 
or sectoral level in accordance with normal 
procedures. 'Concerted action' at European level 
between the two sides of industry on their own 
initiative and backed up by the Commission should 
lead to the conclusion of negotiated 'framework 
agreements'. 
2. Reducing unemployment 
Absolute priority must be given to reducing 
unemployment. The steps to stimulate the economy 
recommended in Chapters III "The basic aims of 
Community policies' and IV C 'Industrial policy' 
should be supplemented by the measures listed 
below, the aim of which is to distribute available 
work in the fairest way possible. 
(a) Vocational training, specialization and 
retraining 
The Community must introduce or step up training, 
specialization and vocational retraining programmes 
to prepare or train people for new production 
methods and new technologies. 
The aim of such a programme must be to equip 
young people and certain other workers with a higher 
degree of vocational skill and retrain older workers, 
thereby matching applicants to the jobs available 
more successfully than at present. 
European solidarity must be developed by 
strengthening the role of the European Social Fund. 
Intervention by the ESF must also cover the 
retraining of workers in ailing sectors and the 
training of highly skilled workers for certain 
advanced technology. Consideration might be given 
to funding a number of capital projects facilitating 
mobility of labour. 
Workers must be aware of the fact that it will be more 
and more difficult in the Europe of tomorrow to 
spend one's entire working life in one type of 
activity. Thus, training and re-training programmes for 
workers must be geared to the foreseeable needs of 
different sectors, and more particularly to supplying 
people to fill available skilled and unskilled jobs; 
steps must also be taken to bring about the greatest 
possible degree of harmonization as regards 
programmes for technical and vocational education 
in the light of these needs. 
(b) Worker mobility 
Ways must be found of permitting real worker 
mobility between sectors and within the Community. 
Illegal immigration must be stopped. 
(c) A balance sheet of available work and an 
active employment policy 
To utilize available labour more efficiently, there 
should be a proper 'balance sheet of available work' 
so that programmes to train or retrain workers in 
skilled or specialized branches corresponding to 
technical and vocational education are matched to 
the established requirements of the labour market. 
An active employment policy should be implemented 
by eliminating the compartmentalization of the 
labour market, by an overall approach to the 
problems in that area and by better coordination of 
all the instruments and financial resources 
available. 
More use must be made of the opportunities offered 
by the European communicating system for jobs 
available and jobs wanted (SEDOC). 
(d) Reduction of the time spent at work 
— The need to organize available work as widely as 
possible without reducing the competitive 
capacity of the economy must lead the two sides 
of industry and the Community authorities to 
provide for measures dealing with flexible 
retirement and part-time working. 
As far as flexible retirement is concerned, the 
Commission should submit new proposals taking 
into account (i) the right of workers to decide for 
themselves, once they reach a certain age, when 
they should leave a job or a voluntary part-time 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/37 
occupation and (ii) the financing possibilities, 
bearing in mind the demographic situation. These 
proposals should be in the form of a draft 
European 'guideline-directive' to be incorpo­
rated into national laws. 
— The actual amount of time spent at work a year 
The Community institutions should encourage 
the conclusion of a European 'framework 
agreement' resulting from consultations between 
the two sides of industry at European level helped 
by the Commission authorities; the aim of this 
document should be to reduce progressively the 
overall volume of time spent at work per year, 
leaving it up to the different Member States and 
economic sectors to decide what means should be 
used (e.g. reducing the working week, giving 
longer holidays, re-arranging shift work, etc.). 
This re-organization of the annual working year 
should be studied: 
— with a view to a fairer distribution of available 
work and its effects on reducing unem­
ployment, 
— from the point of view of improving living 
and working conditions in various sectors, 
and 
— taking account of the possibilities offered by 
greater productivity, the development of 
firms' competitive capacity and the optimum 
use of productive equipment. 
It is obvious, in this context, that, in the interests 
of solidarity, those currently with a job could be 
asked to make certain sacrifices. 
3. Specific measures 
Measures to help families, old people and the 
disabled must be continued, as they often have an 
'encouraging' effect on Member States' legislation; 
the same applies to measures to combat poverty, 
which studies and pilot schemes have already shown 
to be highly useful if implemented and financed by 
the Community. 
The Community's efforts to inform and consult more 
with workers and involve them more in their firms' 
work must be brought to a successful conclusion. 
(The ESC will shortly be issuing a separate opinion 
on this point.) Representatives of the various 
categories of economic and social activity should also be involved in framing and taking decisions 
concerning integrated schemes to develop certain 
regions. 
4. Social policy and other priority Community 
policies 
The Community's social policy must be developed 
hand in hand with its other priority policies, such as 
those for industry, energy and the regions. 
It is a vital factor in bringing about a real balance in 
Community policies in the 1980s. 
It is therefore essential that the decisions and 
financial pledges connected with this policy show 
that European solidarity is a real thing. The 'social' 
aspects of certain mature Community policies (e.g. 
agriculture and transport) should be given greater 
prominence. 
5. A new social action programme 
All the Community's planned social measures for the 
1980s must be part of a new social action programme 
like that proposed by the Commission and adopted 
by the Council in 1974. 
Such a policy, incidentally, would mean a greater 
convergence of national policies. 
E. Energy and research 
The Community should hasten the formulation of a 
common energy policy. 
The Committee has noted with satisfaction the 
Commission's intention to propose measures 
designed to bring about a more consistent policy on 
energy prices, which should be an essential factor in 
adjusting energy supply and demand. 
The Community must concentrate on drafting a 
programme for advanced research with the aim of 
systematically developing traditional and alternative 
sources of energy on its own territory (solar, 
geothermal, winds, tides and bioenergy) and 
promoting energy conservation. 
Community action must encompass the financing of 
certain pilot schemes to encourage the use of certain 
energy production processes. Generally speaking, the 
No C 343/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
Community must persist in its efforts to boost its 
energy potential, concentrating on encouraging the 
production of energy from domestic resources. 
It is extremely important for the Member States to 
have an active and stable concession and fiscal policy 
to promote intensive oil and gas prospecting and 
production in the Community, even from marginal 
sources. There should be a Community strategy, or, if 
necessary, policy, to ensure an uninterrupted supply 
and distribution of natural gas in the future in the 
light, in particular, of future deliveries of natural gas 
from the Eastern bloc. 
An intensive effort will have to be made to achieve 
greater diversification in the energy sources used, so 
as to reduce the existing dependence on imported oil 
in particular. In choosing the energy sources here due 
account will have to be taken of the specific situation 
in the various countries. In view of the longer-term 
considerations, the developments of renewable 
energy sources in particular will have to be taken 
vigorously in hand. 
The Community must try and work out a common 
policy as regards producing electricity from nuclear 
sources. Here suitable techniques, e.g. fusion, to be 
developed alongside the current production process, 
fission, merit extensive reflection and research. 
It can do much to get people to accept these 
advanced energy technologies providing it lays down 
Community standards and measures to protect 
workers (Community nuclear safety code, the 
question of waste, etc.). 
To do this, the information necessary would just have 
to be made known to the people concerned and the 
representatives of economic and social interest 
groups would have to be informed about any scheme 
planned. 
It is also necessary for the Community to cooperate 
more with international energy bodies, as more than 
half of its energy needs (oil) are imported from other 
regions of the world. It is advisable for the 
Community to have a dialogue on energy matters 
with non-oil producers outside the EEC, as their 
interests are very similar. 
As in the past, the Community's research programme 
must cover: — certain aspects of the environment and 
recreation, 
— raw materials, 
— agriculture, 
— certain industrial sectors. 
Additional topics could include oceanic research and 
biology. 
The findings of these research programmes must lead 
in the medium term to investments in the sectors in 
question and thus to the creation of new jobs. They 
must also be made more readily accessible to smaller 
firms. 
All of these research activities must be backed up by 
systems to collate basic data and research findings at 
European level (data banks). 
F. Physical planning 
Generally, this policy, which covers policies for the 
regions and transport and communications 
infrastructure, must help align national policies in 
these fields and reduce the growing disparities 
between the different regions of the Community and 
the gulfs between levels of prosperity. Special 
attention must be paid to closing the gap between 
those in the developed centre of the EEC and those 
which are on its outskirts and suffering from 
economic and social depression. 
I. Regional policy 
The Community must reorientate its regional policy 
and put the accent on the development programmes 
that need to be drawn up to coordinate the funding of 
individual projects in a particular region more 
effectively. This must go hand in hand with the 
provision of adequate resources for the European 
Regional Development Fund and a concentration of 
aid in the least well-off regions. (As regards the 
problem of concentration of aid, see ESC opinion of 
28 October 1981 concerning new directions and 
priorities of regional policy, point II.4(').) 
The aim of the programme should be to develop both 
infrastructures and the industrial and service 
— energy, (!) See page 57 of this Official Journal. 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/39 
networks in the under-developed regions by 
promoting schemes that create jobs immediately 
(small business sector, etc.) and deploying Regional 
Fund resources more effectively. 
A new impetus must be given to these policies by 
involving regional authorities and economic and 
social groups in the preparation of decisions 
concerning programmes and the choice of 
investment projects. 
Truly Community measures of the integrated action 
type which directly encourage the development of the 
regional economy must be made possible by boosting 
the non-quota section of the ERDF and bringing in 
other Community financial instruments like the 
Social Fund, the FEOGA Guidance Section and the 
EIB. Local potential, including local labour, should 
be mobilized in the light of supply possibilities, e.g. 
the development of tourism and the environment 
industry. Smaller businesses and craft firms have a 
key role to play here. 
The present procedures for approving non-quota 
measures must be altered. The requirement of a 
unanimous decision by the Council on all projects 
within the special programmes limits the speed and 
flexibility of response and severely reduces the 
genuinely Community character which such 
measures should have. As the non-quota section is 
enlarged such problems will become more severe. 
In future Council decisions in this area should be 
taken by a qualified majority. 
2. Transport and communications policy 
The geographical expansion of the Community 
means that the Community must play a bigger role in 
improving transit routes and links with the outlying 
regions, as a complement to the development of 
existing infrastructures. 
Community action involving a financial com­
mitment cannot be ruled out. Transport and 
communications policy must bring home to the user 
and the public at large that the Community is a fact. 
The Community's programme for the decade ahead 
must therefore encompass harmonization of charges 
and taxes on different forms of transport, which will 
inevitably involve streamlining customs formalities and standardizing customs papers. All in all, 
Community measures must allow Europeans to feel 
that they are members of a single economic 
Community. Transport policy must take account of 
energy policy (e.g. by developing inter-city public 
transport and communications links in order to 
reduce oil consumption). 
G. The quality of life 
After the information and initial guidelines phase 
which is a feature of Community action as regards 
the environment and nature conservation, certain 
Community research programmes to promote 
environmental protection must be implemented in 
the years to come, thereby helping to harmonize 
production conditions and terms of competition. 
The findings of such research and certain European 
standards for the protection of the environment must 
encourage the development of job-creating 
evironmental industries, through the framing and 
implementation of projects of a Community 
nature. 
To do this, model installations financed by the 
Community should lead to the industrial use of 
processes enabling savings in energy and other 
resources, and thus evironmental protection. 
Generally speaking, in view of the limits to national 
resources, plans should be made to take steps which, 
while favouring economic growth, ensure a wise and 
economic utilization of non-renewable resources, 
including the development of a number of new 
techniques for recycling certain materials. 
The exchange of information on a European scale in 
the field of cultural and leisure activities could lead 
the Community to draw up a research programme for 
future Community and national initiatives, given 
that the rapid growth of this sector may create 
jobs. 
This programme could include schemes to use new 
technical and other methods to clean up and 
renovate urban areas (see the September 1980 ESC 
conference on construction and growth). 
Other points for the Community to consider should 
be living conditions in a rural environment and the 
development of a 'biological' agricultural sector. 
No C 343/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
The Community is not just an economic union. It 
must be seen as a living reality by each citizen. 
It is therefore essential that concrete measures, 
affecting everyone's daily lives, be taken, e. g. 
improvement of border crossing facilities and the 
introduction of European passports and driving 
licences. 
H. Agricultural policy 
The common agricultural policy must be pursued in 
harmony with the whole series of balanced 
Community policies to be developed in the future. It 
must comply with the aims of Community policies 
generally as defined in Article 2 of the EEC Treaty 
(promotion and harmonious development of 
economic activities throughout the Community — 
accelerated raising of the standard of living, etc.). 
It must be developed bearing in mind the goals set 
out in the EEC Treaty, which are still valid for the 
decade ahead (notably to increase agricultural 
productivity, and thus ensure a fair standard of living 
for the agricultural community, to stabilize markets, 
to assure the availability of supplies and to ensure 
that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices). 
One cannot overlook the importance given, at the 
conference of Stresa in 1958, to providing the 
agricultural sector with pay levels and a return on 
capital identical with those in other sectors by means 
of structural improvements. To achieve these goals 
the Community must, as in the past, follow the three 
principles on which the different market 
organizations are based, namely: 
— single markets and prices, 
— financial solidarity, and 
— Community preference. 
The common agricultural policy must be compatible 
with the aims of Article 110 of the Treaty, which aims 
at the harmonious development of world trade. In 
addition, in accordance with what was agreed at the 
conference of Stresa, equilibrium between supply 
and demand must be a major objective. 
For the medium-term, the Community must decide 
what are to be its objectives regarding self-
sufficiency, its trading and political needs as far as 
imports are concerned and its potential for 
exporting. The different elements of the common agricultural 
policy must be developed in a more harmonious 
manner. In addition to markets and prices policy, 
social, commercial and structural aspects must be 
more important in future. 
As far as agricultural structural policy is concerned 
the Committee, like the European Parliament in its 
resolution of 17 June 1981, would like certain 
measures to develop farming structures in the less-
favoured regions to be combined with regional and 
infrastructure measures in the form of integrated 
operations financed jointly with the Social and 
Regional Funds. 
The medium-term development of agriculture must 
aim at making European farming efficient with the 
trend being towards production units of a profitable 
size — bearing in mind commercial needs. 
The instruments of agricultural policy must be 
corrected with this in mind. 
Crops able to provide economical substitutes for 
imported hydrocarbons should be encouraged. 
There should be a detailed study of the effects which 
result from the different market organizations. The 
maintenance of an appropriate standard of living for 
farmers must not rule out measures designed to 
improve management of certain markets and 
eliminate surplus production of certain products 
which seriously unbalances the Community budget. 
As the President of the Commission put it, the 
Community's strategy should be to keep tighter 
control over the excessive increase in expenditure 
generated by the CAP, bearing in mind the basic 
principles underpinning this policy. 
Although prices should remain an important 
instrument consideration should also be given to 
other ways of regulating production as a means of 
achieving these aims. Prices should follow market 
trends more closely. Certain other measures should 
be envisaged to help farmers in less-favoured 
areas. 
As a general rule the growth in the Community's 
agricultural budget should be less than that of the 
budget's other sections. 
The Community must take more account of the 
international dimensions of the common agricultural 
policy by progressively bringing in a policy for 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/41 
exporting farm produce in accordance with the 
Community's own interests and the legitimate 
interests of other exporters. 
Development aid policy should also include food aid 
as a policy separate from medium and long-term 
objectives, programmes and instruments. 
Generally, the aim must be to achieve some measure 
of consistency between the various components of 
the CAP and the Community's external relations in 
the context of an overall approach to the 
Community's policies for the 80s. 
The Economic and Social Commitee is shortly to 
issue an opinion on the future prospects of the CAP, 
in which its position on this matter will be set out in 
greater detail. 
I. Community information policy 
Community decisions must be presented and 
communicated to the mass media as an expression of 
Community policy, which means there must be a 
systematic policy of providing information on 
decisions which are taken and the reasons behind 
them and of providing general information designed 
to promote the Community ideal. The Council must 
therefore, following a proposal from the 
Commission, lay down a real information policy 
aimed at correcting the image currently projected by 
the mass media, which is inadequate, often 
inaccurate and may make a negative impact on the 
general public. The Community institutions and 
bodies must therefore provide the different media 
with a massive stream of information so that radio 
and television programmes can reproduce faithfully 
and copiously the viewpoint of the Community as 
such along with the opinions of political, economic 
and social groups. 
To achieve this aim, there is a need for a high degree 
of consistency in the presentation of information. 
The Community needs to have its own 'house style' 
which can be easily recognized by any European, 
whatever the Member State he or she belongs to. 
J. The planning of Community policies 
All the Community policies sketched out above, 
which must gradually take the form of multiannual 
legislation programmes, should be the subject of a 
proposal from the EC Commission, spark off a wide-
ranging mass debate at a political level in the European Parliament, and lead to an in-depth 
discussion with the economic and social forces 
represented on the Economic and Social 
Committee. 
These programmes should then be adopted by the 
Council of Ministers who should undertake to act 
accordingly and make available the financial 
resources necessary. 
These overall Community policy programmes could, 
for some things, replace isolated measures which 
could not be carried out efficiently at national level. 
For this reason some of the financial resources could 
be found by reducing national expenditure. The 
other part could be financed by a better balanced and 
strengthened Community budget. 
V THE COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS AND THE 
DEMANDS OF THE 1980s 
In the 1980s, the whole complex of relations between 
the Member States and the policies of the 
Community will have to move towards a genuine 
European Union based on the existing treaties, the 
Community law arising out of them, jointly 
determined guidelines and the Member States' 
relations with other regions of the world, as well as 
on the various facets of European cooperation in the 
political and security fields. 
In the light of experience it might prove necessary to 
adapt certain provisions of the treaties by 
strengthening the powers of the Community and 
protecting fairly the rights of minorities. It will be 
interesting here to see what initiatives will be taken 
by the European Parliament. 
The Community institutions must therefore use their 
powers to the full right now and progressively adjust 
to the demands of such a union (see too the ESC 
opinion on the 'Report on the European institu­
tions') ({). An institutional and political perspective 
of this kind is absolutely vital; otherwise the peoples 
of Europe will eventually no longer commit 
themselves to the European Community and it will 
be more and more difficult to reach political 
compromises within the Community institutions. 
The Community is a political commitment, not just a 
customs union. It must be constantly presented as 
(i) OJ No C 205, 11.8. 1980, p. 30. 
No C 343/42 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
such to its citizens, and this must be a primary 
responsibility of all its institutions. 
The Community institutions must take part in 
arriving at an overall approach to Community 
policies, rather than the over-fragmentary approach 
which has prevailed in the past. 
The common duty of the institutions which propose 
and decide is to design a balanced and consistent set 
of Community policies which accommodates the 
legitimate interests of the Member States and their 
peoples but which is not based merely on a 
juxtaposition of the different national interests. 
Thus the need to decide in accordance with the Rules 
of the Treaty would be more evident to those who at 
the present time hang on at all costs to the right of 
veto. 
The Commission, using its right of initiative, must 
play its part to the full as the body which 'proposes'. 
To do this, it must submit objective and coherent 
analyses of the situation of the Community. It must 
therefore ensure that it makes known the 
'Community's response' and propose 'Community' 
answers to problems. It must also incorporate its 
guidelines in a 'multiannual legislative programme', 
coinciding with the terms of the European 
Parliament in the 1980s (1979 to 1984 and 1984 to 
1989), which will have to be adopted by the European 
Parliament and discussed with the economic and 
social interest groups in the Economic and Social 
Committee. 
The Council of Ministers must take decisions more 
quickly. Its authority is being weakened by its 
sluggish procedures which are blocking decisions on 
a number of Community policies, and which can 
only get worse in an enlarged Community of 
Twelve. 
To retain or recover its decision-taking capacity the 
Council absolutely must, as a general rule, decide by 
a weighted majority as provided for in the Treaties; 
this would at the same time constitute a first step 
towards a new effectiveness within that institution. It 
is regrettable that there has still not been an adequate 
follow-up to the Spierenburg and Dell Reports. 
The European Parliamentl's job should be to monitor 
at the political level and intensify its influence in the 
dialogue with the Commission and Council. It must 
exercise its authority on budgetary matters fully. In 
big debates, it must prepare the policy decisions of 
the Community. The European Council's role must simply be that of a 
place where contacts at the highest level can be made. 
It may give certain general guidelines for 
Community policies but should not become a court 
of appeal or decision-taking body as this would 
paralyse the Council of Ministers (which is inclined 
to refer technical and everyday management 
questions to the European Council). 
The Economic and Social Committee 
The institutional role conferred on the Economic and 
Social Committee under the Treaties is to ensure the 
active involvement of the various economic and 
social interest groups in the Community's legislative 
process and the coordination of national economic 
and social policies. This should, among other things, 
mean conferring institutional status on the 
Committee. 
The Committee must therefore be consulted before 
any Community policy objectives are defined. 
VI. THE FINANCING OF PRIORITY COMMUNITY 
POLICIES 
Community measures designed in the interests of 
greater efficiency to replace national measures — 
though not at the cost of an increase in personal and 
company tax burdens — should be incorporated in a 
binding multi-annual programme (see above) which 
will replace the over-fragmentary approach of the 
past. 
Other measures should be seen more as complements 
to national measures. 
However, most of the policies listed above will only 
be fully effective if they are given substantial 
financial backing by the Community, although 
money must be used more effectively and 
expenditure must provide a greater return. 
Only policies of this kind will enable the present 
imbalances between the different regions in the 
Member States and the various common policies to 
be corrected and promote greater overall economic 
convergence in the Community. 
It would therefore be a good idea to check whether a 
limitation of the Community's income to a ceiling of 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/43 
1 % of VAT receipts would be fair and in keeping 
with the medium-term development of new EEC 
policies, e.g. energy and industry or, in view of the 
relevant transfers of powers and expenditure to take 
place in the next few years, whether it would not be 
more logical to allow the development of 
Community policies in areas where such may be 
more effective than national policies. 
Any expansion of own resources should be linked to 
a reconsideration of how the money is to be used as 
part of a greater convergence of the Community's 
policies. A 'fair return' philosophy will be 
unnecessary if resources are distributed fairly among 
the different regions. 
The Community, for its part, must use its funds more 
efficiently and should therefore coordinate more 
closely the interventions of its financial instruments, 
viz.: 
— the European Regional Development Fund 
(ERDF), — the European Social Fund (ESF), and 
— the Guidance Section of the European 
Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund 
(EAGGF). 
Intervention through the European Investment Bank 
(EIB) and the new Community instruments (NCI) 
should be better coordinated with the aim of 
achieving a greater convergence of Community 
policies. 
Also to be developed are 'Community-type' actions, 
such as schemes to assist: 
— small and medium-sized businesses, 
— 'integrated operations' to help certain regions, 
or 
— intervention by the Social Fund. Such 
intervention would concern either certain groups 
(the young, women and the disabled), certain 
situations (e.g. the integrated operation on 
training and employment) or 'growth-generating 
and job-creating' sectors. 
Done at Brussels, 28 October 1981. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE 
APPENDICES 
to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
1. Declaration by Mr Staratzke on behalf of Group I (Employers) 
The members of Group I (Employers) naturally do not agree with some of the passages in the 
opinion. They would like to have been able to indicate these differences of opinion or make 
additions to the text, but they are willing to put these differences to one side so as not to tax 
Committee solidarity and jeopardize the Opinion. 
On two points they do, however, have a completely different viewpoint, which we would like to 
make known. We would therefore ask you to publish the following declaration together with the 
opinion in the Official Journal: 
Group I accepts that the question of a reduction in working hours must be discussed by 
employers and workers and that there is scope for such discussions at European level. 
However, no decisions can be taken at that level. The workers' and employers' associations at 
EEC level do not have the authority to take decisions which are binding on their members. The 
decisions must be reached between the usual negotiating parties in the Member States. 
No C 343/44 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
Accordingly the Commission can do nothing more than bring both sides of industry together. 
All references to EEC outline Directives or outline agreements should accordingly be 
omitted. 
The members of Group I are very much in favour of worker information and consultation. 
They do, however, take the view that as the legislation, traditions and practices in Member 
States differ so considerably, the time is not yet ripe for a Community initiative. A draft 
Directive on the subject, which is currently being discussed by the Economic and Social 
Committee, has already made it quite clear that the Committee is sharply divided on this 
question. It accordingly seems inappropriate to refer to this matter in an opinion which should 
set out the general views of the Committee on developments in the next decade. 
2. Declaration by Mr Debunne on behalf of Group II (Workers) 
Some of the passages in the prospects for the 1980s opinion disturb the workers, to say the least. 
However, the opinion reflects a readiness to search for a compromise. Concessions have been 
made and a certain degree of balance has been achieved as a result of a 'give-and-take'. As such, the 
opinion has a definite value in the eyes of Group II and meets with its approval. 
However, in order to avoid misunderstandings later on, Group II considers it necessary and 
advisable to make the following declaration: 
The main line taken in the opinion is that the Community's activities should be strengthened 
and made more coherent and binding. As to the priority to be accorded to 'investment' 
expenditure as compared with public and private 'consumer' expenditure, we have time and 
again made it clear that the two approaches should be fully compatible. 
The economic growth and recovery which we are calling for should be aimed at: 
— a boost in domestic demand by maintaining and increasing purchasing power, first and 
foremost through the provision of help for the low income groups, 
— more funds for investments in communal facilities (both private and public) and social 
services, especially housing, education and training, health and environment protection, 
with the twofold aim of improving living conditions and creating jobs, 
— the development of major infrastructure projects (transport, communications, and so on) 
which are vital for a real economic recovery. 
Small and medium-sized enterprises would be in a stronger position to create new jobs since a 
large share of the increased domestic demand would go to them. 
In the field of external relations, it is vital for the Community to put its entire economic and 
political weight behind a policy aimed at a wide-ranging international programme for 
developing and supplying the I DCs. Only in this way will it be possible to achieve a more 
equitable international order. This is also a decisive factor in getting the world economy off 
the ground again. 
Above all, it is necessary to help the IDCs to help themselves so that they can satisfy their own 
needs in the first instance, before re-exporting to the industrialized countries. 
As far as Community-level cooperation between both sides of industry is concerned, there 
should be a political will to work jointly towards a reduction of working hours, because 
otherwise we shall not make any headway and we shall fail to get to grips with the problem of 
unemployment. Of course, in the end, the matter will have to be solved at national level by 
collective agreements. 
Among the back-up policies under review in the employment sector, greater emphasis is being 
placed on training and mobility. These factors improve individual chances of finding a job but 
do little to remedy the employment crisis. The disastrous unemployment situation must be 
tackled by more vigorous means. Shorter working hours is one major solution to the 
anguishing problem of an intolerably high level of unemployment, which has hit the young 
and women hardest of all. 
Before speaking about the sacrifices that could be asked of job-holders, as the opinion does, it 
would seem to us to be more logical to speak about a more equitable sharing of the cake. 
National wealth should be redistributed more fairly in a true spirit of solidarity. 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/45 
Finally — and here I am sticking to the essentials — it must be said that the rational utilization 
of energy's role is underestimated, that the monitoring of multinationals' supplies and the 
independent monitoring of the security of supplies has been neglected and that no mention is 
made in connection with energy prices of protecting non-industrial tariffs or satisfying basic 
household requirements. 
All in all, energy policy should be seen in the general context of public service and utility. In 
this context transport (an infrastructure of major Community significance) should command a 
prominent place. 
3. Declaration by Mr Hilkens (consumers) (Group III: various interests) 
We are having to deal with an extremely difficult but important issue which concerns the very basis 
of our society. There is a dramatic and inadmissible level of unemployment, and a tendency to 
protectionism — both at domestic and external level. 
It is of great importance that the Committee, on which all social groups are represented, should 
consider this issue. The main value of the paper before us is that it reflects a willingness to act 
together. How this is to be done is not always visible and the paper does not offer ready solutions. It 
sets out a number of suggestions. I have accepted the proposal that no amendments should be 
tabled in order to ensure a joint, unanimous standpoint. 
My comments are concerned with the section on the quality of life. I agree with the statements 
made in this section, but my problem is that they do not say nearly enough. The quality of life is not 
a marginal phenomenon but an integral component of economic policy. This quality of life must 
not remain an empty slogan. To a large extent it is covered by consumer policy. When I defend this 
point of view, I am in good company. The Council of Ministers stated itself in its resolution on the 
second consumer programme that "Improvement of the quality of life is one of the tasks of the 
Community. This task involves the protection of health and safety and the economic interests of the 
consumer'. The particular importance of this issue in the present economic situation is brought out 
by a statement in the Second Consumer Programme which was adopted by the Council, viz.: 'In the 
present difficult economic situation — characterized by small income increases, persistent 
structural unemployment and the various economic repercussions of energy dependence which 
confront most of the Member States — the consumer is forced to spend his income more 
thoughtfully, if he is to gain maximum benefit from it, and to pay more attention to the qualitative 
aspects of goods and services. In this light, special importance attaches to the measures to protect 
consumers in the field of the quality of goods and services, the conditions under which these are 
offered, and information thereon.' 
Some want to reduce the importance of consumer policy because there are so many other 
important problems. It looks as if both the Commission and the Council want to go along with this. 
Examples are provided by a number of draft consumer-policy Directives which are pending before 
the Council. The Commission has withdrawn the draft Directive on toy safety, for further 
consideration. There are even attempts, where consumer protection is involved, to give preference 
to the free market. I admit that in the present situation it is difficult to strike a balance between the 
needs of the free market and the harmonization of laws. But there can be no question of consumer 
protection being sacrificed for the sake of the free market. 
The draft opinion states that the citizens are losing confidence in the Community. A European 
passport and driving licence are proposed in order to satisfy the man in the street. If this is really 
the intention, a whole lot more must be done. The citizens of the Community are calling for a policy 
which will lead to a high quality of life. 
No C 343/46 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
4. Declaration by Mr Laur (farmers) (Group HI: various interests) 
It is not surprising that we farmers have something to say about the draft opinion being discussed: 
an opinion on the CAP's prospects should have been discussed at the same time but has not been 
able to be prepared in time. Since our plans have thus been spoilt, we have some comments to make 
on the prospects for the 1980's opinion. We would like our comments to be appended to the 
opinion, and we would point out that the adoption of this opinion in no way prejudges what we 
shall be saying shortly about the CAP. 
The farmers' representatives have reservations, to a greater or lesser extent, about the following 
points: 
— First of all we hope that the sole purpose of the comparison made right at the start of the 
opinion between the number of unemployed and the size of the working population engaged in 
farming is to underline the importance which the Community should attach to farming at a time 
of high unemployment, and the need to have an agricultural policy which averts an exodus 
from the land and a fall in employment in the agricultural supply and processing industries and 
hence a further rise in the jobless total. 
— We want a better definition of the multiannual production targets referred to in the opinion 
(page 33, fourth paragraph): these targets must take account of domestic consumer 
requirements, imports resulting from EEC obligations and potential exports, the need for 
buffer stocks and food aid policy. 
— Since farming is a biological activity dependent on the weather, we think that the 'elimination 
of surplus production' (page 34, fifth paragraph) is wishful thinking. On the other hand, we do 
consider it highly desirable to curb increases in production which would result in a serious and 
permanent imbalance of the Community budget. 
— We cannot accept that having prices fixed by the market — as suggested on page 35, first 
paragraph — would be a move in the right direction. The purpose of the common market and 
the common agricultural policy is still to shield producers and consumers from excessive 
fluctuations in prices on the world market and, after all, the world market often defies 
comprehension, being a dumping ground for surplus production rather than a market based on 
cost prices. 
— We also consider that even if priority is to be given to investments (page 11, second paragraph 
of the opinion), a selective revival of public and private consumer expenditure cannot be 
overlooked. Isn't this the purpose of social policies to help families, the elderly and the disabled 
and even the purpose of the minimum wage or direct aid for hill farmers? 
Still outside the realm of the common agricultural policy, we cannot overlook the fact that the CAP 
is but one of the cornerstones of the Community edifice. Thus, we agree for the most part with the 
opinion's suggestions on how to diversify Community action and revitalize long neglected joint 
activities with regard to the convergence of national economies, industrial policy, social policy, 
energy, research, land use planning and regional policy. This is certainly one way of mitigating the 
twin curse of unemployment and economic recession. 
The farmer, just like any other citizen, is alive to the problems facing us from our economic, social 
and human angle, while as a farmer he is feeling the impact of a fall in purchasing power and hence 
agricultural sales, a drop in public loans for farming and a growing downward pressure on farm 
prices. 
We would stress that this ambitious programme could not be carried out in full without additional 
funds. It would be unwise to imagine that levies on the funds currently spent on the CAP might 
suffice for this purpose. 
One final word about the new world economic order. It is wrong to suppose as the opinion does 
{page 6, third paragraph) that the EEC will suffer from a confrontation of interest here. This 
negative assessment does not correspond to reality. 
The search for a new world economic order must give the Community the chance, in the face of 
requests from Third World countries, to play a constructive role and put forward solutions which 
take account of both sides' economic interdependence based on mutual interests and benefits. 
We hope that these comments of ours are a constructive contribution to the document before 
us. 
31. 12.81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/47 
5. Declaration by Mr Margot (crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises) (Group III: various 
interests) 
The representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises agree broadly with the views contained 
in the draft opinion. However, we would all prefer the text to speak of economic policy wherever it 
refers to industrial policy, for all economic activities — including commerce and services — and 
not merely industry must be given a boost at the moment. 
We have also noted that the necessary development of small and medium-sized enterprises has 
been given a prominent place not only in the draft opinion but also in the Commission's report on 
the mandate and in Commissioner O'Kennedy's speech. I believe that from the point of view of job 
creation, which is one of the priorities, if not the most important priority, in the 1980s, it is 
impossible to overlook the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises have an important role to 
play. 
Eighty per cent of the jobs created in the United States in the last two years have been in the small 
business sector and mainly in firms with less than 25 employees. We are pleased to note that this 
fact has been recognized in various declarations and reports of the Commission where there is 
seemingly a wish to grant a more important place to small business in future policies. 
Our only wish is that the line is not drawn at speeches and statements of intent, but that these words 
are followed by action. There is no escape from the fact that out of the 10 000 or so officials 
working for the European institutions there are, all told, only three with special responsibilities for 
studying and furthering a policy of support for small and medium-sized enterprises and the craft 
industries. We are not in favour of an unwieldy bureaucracy, even in an area of special interest to 
us, but we do believe that there is a lack of proportion in this particular case and that it is necessary 
to have a properly equipped service within the European institutions which — acting in 
collaboration with representative small business organizations — is capable of keeping a watch on 
questions affecting small business in all areas of Community policy, be it questions falling within 
the Community's own remit or recommendation from the Commission or the Community to the 
Member States. Thus, our main, if not sole, wish is that theory is put into practice, that tangible 
progress is made in the eighties and that small and medium-sized enterprises are put in a position to 
contribute fully to the creation of jobs and the supply of goods and services in response to the 
varied needs of consumers. From this point of view I believe that we are not simply talking about 
the problems of a specific interest group, but instead are defending the interests of the community 
as a whole.