European Parliament resolution on the preparation of the European Council on 15-16 June 2001 in Göteborg
Date: 2001-06-13
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Council, European Union, climate change, enlargement of the Union, foreign policy, sustainable development

28.2.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 53 E/183

4. Preparation of the European Council (G(cid:246)teborg, 15/16 June 2001)

Wednesday 13 June 2001

B5-0405, 0406, 0408 and 0409/2001

European Parliament resolution on the preparation of the European Council on 15/16 June 2001 in
G(cid:246)teborg

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the Council and Commission statements on the preparation of the European Council

meeting on 15/16 June 2001 in G(cid:246)teborg,

(cid:129) having regard to the conclusions of the European Council meetings in Cardiff (June 1998), Helsinki

(December 1999), Lisbon (March 2000) and Stockholm (March 2001),

(cid:129) having regard to the Commission communication (cid:145)Ten years after Rio: preparing for the World Sum-
mit on sustainable development in 2002(cid:146) and to the Commission consultation paper on sustainable
development,

(cid:129) having regard to its resolution of 31 May 2001 on Environmental policy and sustainable devel-
opment: preparing for the G(cid:246)teborg European Council (1), to its position of 31 May 2001 on The
Community Environment Action programme 2001-2010 (2), and to its resolution of 31 May 2001
on the communication from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament on bringing
our needs and responsibilities together (cid:129) integrating environmental issues with economic policy (3),

(cid:129) having regard to its resolution of 31 May 2001 on the Treaty of Nice and the future of the European

Union (4),

(cid:129) having regard to its resolution of 17 May 2001 on the situation in the Middle East (5),

(cid:129) having regard to its resolution of 15 March 2001 on conflict prevention and civil crisis manage-

ment (6),

(cid:129) having regard to its resolution of 17 May 2001 on the Transatlantic Dialogue (7),

Enlargement

Recalls the fact that the reunification of Europe in an area of peace, security, prosperity and stability

1.
remains the historic task of the European Union and the definitive challenge in Europe;

2. Warns about the lack of momentum of the enlargement process due to the fact that in the Member
States the emphasis now lies on the consequences of enlargement for existing EU policies; acknowledges
that the principles of the current cohesion policy need to be maintained; invites EU governments to pre-
pare society properly for enlargement;

Calls on the European Council to ensure that enlargement negotiations are pursued at an accelerated
3.
pace so that candidate countries with whom negotiations have been concluded may have the prospect of
participating in the 2004 European elections;

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)

(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 11.
(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 5.
(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 10.
(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 4.
(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 6.
(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 4.
(cid:145)Texts Adopted(cid:146), Item 7.

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Wednesday 13 June 2001

4. Warns of the impact on public opinion in the candidate countries of any delay in accession, and
notes with great concern the falling support for accession in Central and Eastern Europe, requiring more
efforts by the governments concerned to convince their citizens of the advantages and benefits of joining
the EU;

5. Welcomes the recent agreements reached on a common EU position for negotiations with candidate
countries;

6.
Calls on the European Council to ensure that, in future negotiations on enlargement, there is no
(cid:145)bundling(cid:146) between issues such as freedom of movement and readjustment of the financial perspectives
and that each candidate country(cid:146)s application is treated on its merits; agrees that, in a limited number of
areas, transitional periods could be provided for but on condition that they be made as short as possible;

Regrets moves towards long transition periods for the free movement of labour and calls on as many

7.
Member States as possible to opt for the shortest possible period in this respect;

Future of the Union

Believes that reform of the Treaties should be preceded by a large-scale and detailed public debate
8.
and that this debate should take place at European and national
level; calls for the establishment of
national committees or other types of bodies chosen by the national authorities, to be responsible for
organising this debate;

9.
Believes that the final outcome of the forthcoming reform will depend essentially on how it is pre-
pared, and therefore calls for a Convention to be established with an organisational set-up and mandate
similar to those of the Convention which drafted the Charter of Fundamental Rights and:

(cid:129) made up of members of the national parliaments, of the European Parliament, of the Commission and

of the governments, as well as of observers from the applicant countries,

(cid:129) responsible for drawing up constitutional proposals to serve as a basis for the discussions of the IGC,

(cid:129) and to start work at the beginning of 2002;

Believes that the IGC should be convened for the second half of 2003 so that it can finalise its work

10.
by the end of that year;

11.
Notes the result of the Irish referendum which rejects the Treaty of Nice; insists that the European
Council accept full responsibility not only for the drafting of the treaty but also for its ratification; reaf-
firms its own insistence on a radical reform of the method for future treaty amendment, involving a
transparent process of constitutional development with broad participation by citizens;

Sustainable development

12. Welcomes the special prominence given by the Swedish Presidency to the theme of sustainable
development and calls on the G(cid:246)teborg European Council to give significant new impetus to a European
policy aiming at a long-term development strategy, including economic, social, and environmental aspects;
considers it essential that the European Council should develop a strong political leadership in this field;
welcomes the Commission(cid:146)s consultation paper for the preparation of a European Union strategy for
sustainable development, but regrets that it was not forwarded to the European Parliament in time for it
to give its opinion on the specific proposals contained therein;

13.
Supports the strategy outlined in the consultation paper, in particular the cross-industry proposal to
ensure greater coherence and cost-effectiveness for political decisions on the one hand, and the setting of
priority targets and EU-level measures to meet the greatest sustainable development challenges not covered
by the Lisbon strategy, namely climate change, threats to public health, depletion of natural resources and
soil use on the other;

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Wednesday 13 June 2001

14.
Believes that in order to keep its fundamental leader-role on the international scene the EU must
first and foremost define and adopt concrete and realistic internal objectives to address pressing unsustain-
able trends;

15.
Calls on the Commission to add the topic (cid:145)Sustainable Food(cid:146) to the six fundamental topics of the
European strategy for sustainable development and to present concrete proposals concerning urban and
territorial development;

16.
Is of the opinion that broad economic policy guidelines can easily incorporate the objectives of
environmental sustainability and stresses that there is no contradiction but a genuine complementarity
between the aim of creating jobs, economic development and sustainable development strategies;

17.
Underlines that social inclusion is a key dimension of any sustainable development strategy; access
to essential services of general interest is a key element in such development; promoting quality of life
including the development of more and better jobs should be part of this strategy, and the social agenda,
which recognises the importance of a long-term viable pensions system, should therefore be an important
element in this context;

18.
Stresses that there is a link between sustainability and solidarity, between regions and populations;
therefore asks the Commission to draw up a declaration on (cid:145)economic and social cohesion in the context
of the enlargement of the European Union(cid:146), based on the need to place the debate on the Structural and
Cohesion Funds in a positive perspective and in a spirit of solidarity in line with the Treaties and historical
experience;

Considers that global responsibility must be a key feature of the strategy and there should therefore

19.
be a significant EU contribution to the Rio+10 Summit to be held in Johannesburg in 2002;

Notes that the Cardiff process has been instrumental in supporting new environmental integration

20.
in the Commission, the Member States and the Council;

21.
Firmly believes that the Cardiff process is the key to best achieving the provisions of Article 6 of the
EC Treaty and calls, therefore, on the Heads of State and Government in G(cid:246)teborg to reaffirm their com-
mitment to the Cardiff process;

22.
Demands the adoption of a clear and precise action plan in G(cid:246)teborg for the effective implemen-
tation of an EU sustainable development strategy together with deadlines for action and a commitment to
review the situation at a subsequent summit;

23.
Calls for the introduction of a mandatory environmental impact assessment for all decisions and
legislative proposals by the European Commission and publication of the results; looks forward to the
adoption and implementation of EU environmental
liability legislation, but notes that prevention of
environmental damage, for example through environmental audit mechanisms, remains the most sustain-
able way of protecting the environment;

24. Welcomes the Commission proposal to modify support from the CAP in order to reward high-
quality products and practices rather than quantity and to phase out tobacco subsidies while putting in
place some measures to develop alternative sources of income and economic activity for tobacco workers
and growers;

Draws attention to the fact that an EU sustainability strategy can only be effective if it is given the

25.
necessary budgetary resources;

26.
Stresses the importance of creating an independent (cid:145)Sustainability Round Table(cid:146) with the mandate of
monitoring, evaluation and follow-up on the basis of political priorities and sustainability indicators; this
consultation body should reflect the different stakeholder interests in the European Union and in the
candidate countries and report regularly to the Council, Parliament and the Commission; Parliament should
be represented in this body and consulted on the nomination of its members;

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27.
Instructs its President to review Parliament(cid:146)s own methods of working with a view to devising
working practices which promote sustainable development and to organise a yearly plenary debate on
sustainable development; instructs Parliament(cid:146)s committees to regularly monitor the progress of the imple-
mentation of sustainability in EU policies;

Climate change

28.
Expects all the EU leaders to reconfirm their commitment to the Kyoto protocol on climate change,
and calls on them to step up their diplomatic contacts on Capitol Hill in view of recent political devel-
opments in Washington, in order to bring the US Administration back on board;

29. Welcomes recent Commission proposals to set an objective for greenhouse gas emissions for 2020
and the phasing-out of subsidies on fossil fuel production and consumption by 2010;

Foreign Policy

European security and defence policy

30.
Reminds the Council of the various proposals contained in its previous resolutions on European
security and defence policy (ESDP), and reaffirms, in particular, its belief that a parliamentary dimension
for the ESDP must be ensured;

31. Welcomes the efforts made by the Member States over the past two years to set up a 60 000-strong
European Rapid Reaction Force ready to be deployed within 60 days by 2003, and expresses its hopes for
an initial operating capability by the end of 2001;

Reminds the Member States of their commitment to maintain their defence budgets at the level

32.
needed to reach the ambitious objectives of the ESDP;

33. Welcomes the Swedish Presidency(cid:146)s initiatives in the field of conflict prevention and civil crisis
management; invites the European Council to adopt a strong and efficient programme concerning conflict
prevention through its Common Foreign and Security Policy; underlines that such a programme must be
implemented without delay and must focus on structural aspects of conflict prevention as well as on civil
crisis management;

34.
Calls on the Council to reaffirm its commitment to rigorous export controls as well as support for
regional peace initiatives, as important ways of addressing the problem of missile proliferation, while also
noting that such efforts need to be complemented by global and multilateral approaches;

Transatlantic relationship

35.
Insists that close cooperation between the United States and the European Union is essential not
only to both US and European interests, but also to global interests in tackling issues such as the fight
against poverty, safeguarding the environment, global trade, cultural and information diversity, the digital
divide and organised crime;

Is convinced that cooperation within the Atlantic Alliance continues to be of decisive global import-

36.
ance for security and stability;

37.
Is concerned about the US missile defence system proposals; stresses the necessity for the US to
consult its European partners and all countries concerned prior to developing a missile defence system;
urges the Council, in its discussions with the US President, to ensure that multilateral negotiations and
dialogue should precede any new developments as regards the ABM Treaty;

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The Middle East

38.
Expresses its deepest regret at the lives claimed by the conflict, and addresses its condolences and
sympathy to the victims(cid:146) families; firmly condemns the terrorist act perpetrated in Tel Aviv, as well as the
use of excessive military force and all other acts of violence whatever their origin;

39.
Notes the previous declaration of the EU Presidency that (cid:145)the progress made on all major issues
during the last negotiations should form the basis for future talks on the permanent status(cid:146) of the Middle
East region;

40.
Invites the Council to take the lead on an international initiative on the Israel/Palestine conflict
based on the Mitchell report and to investigate possible joint action with the US; such a plan should
include a platform for fresh negotiations between the two parties,
the dispatch of an international
observers(cid:146) force, proper mechanisms for fighting terrorism, freezing of settlements, protection of the civi-
lian population, and full respect for human rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention;

FYROM

41.
Condemns the acts of the terrorist forces coming from the UCK and other armed groups on the
territory of FYROM; welcomes the initiatives of the Council, CFSP High Representative Solana and Com-
missioner Patten; supports the latest peace plans from the FYROM government and from all the demo-
cratic parties which are seeking a political solution to the country(cid:146)s problems;

Urges the Commission to provide the necessary aid in full co-operation with the FYROM Govern-

42.
ment, so as to assist the refugees and the civilian population involved in the conflict;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Council, the Commis-

43.
sion and the parliaments of the Member States.

*

*

*

5. Ozone in ambient air ***II

A5-0187/2001

European Parliament legislative resolution on the Council common position for adopting a Euro-
pean Parliament and Council directive on relating to ozone in ambient air (13114/1/2000 (cid:129)
C5-0090/2001 (cid:129) 1999/0068(COD))

(Codecision procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the Council common position (13114/1/2000 (cid:129) C5-0090/2001) (1),

(cid:129) having regard to its position at first reading (2) on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the

Council (COM(1999) 125) (3),

(cid:129) having regard to the Commission(cid:146)s amended proposal (COM(2000) 613) (4),

(cid:129) having regard to Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty,

(cid:129) having regard to Rule 80 of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:129) having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on the Environment,

Public Health and Consumer Policy (A5-0187/2001),

(1) OJ C 126, 26.4.2001, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 377, 29.12.2000, p. 154.
(3) OJ C 56 E, 29.2.2000, p. 40.
(4) OJ C 29 E, 30.1.2001, p. 291.