European Parliament resolution on the outcome of the European Council in Brussels on 22 and 23 March 2005
Date: 2005-04-13
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Croatia, EU environmental policy, EU relations, European Council, European social policy, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, accession to the European Union, aid policy, climate change, knowledge economy, political situation, single market, stability pact, sustainable development

9.2.2006

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/487

Personnel and administration

Wednesday 13 April 2005

31.
Notes that the Commission has requested 700 new posts to be created in 2006 following its multi-
annual plan for additional human resources following the 2004 enlargement; notes that the Commission
estimates that, as a result of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, 850 new posts will need to be phased
in by 2010; calls on the Commission to present a review of the medium-term staff needs as put forward by
the previous Commission by 31 July 2005; asks the Commission to submit by 31 July 2005 a detailed
report on the Commission's staffing of support and coordination functions;

32. Welcomes the relatively high occupation rate of posts in the Commission administration; encourages
the Commission to continue to use redeployment within and between departments to mobilise additional
human resources;

Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions

Reiterates its support for working closely with the Commission on pilot projects and preparatory

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actions in order to facilitate the joint examination on the feasibility of the proposals;

Invites the Commission to assess the results of the initiatives — pilot projects and preparatory

34.
actions — launched in recent years in order to evaluate their possible continuation;

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Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Court of

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Auditors.

P6_TA(2005)0127

Meeting of the European Council (Brussels, 22 and 23 March 2005)

European Parliament resolution on the outcome of the European Council in Brussels on 22 and
23 March 2005

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Presidency Conclusions following the European Council of 22 and 23 March

2005,

— having regard to the European Council report and the Commission statement on the European Council

meeting of 22 and 23 March 2005,

— having regard to Rule 103(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

I. Stability and Growth Pact

1. Welcomes the fact that, after months of controversial signals, political agreement was reached at the
European Council on a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact designed to improve the coordination and
monitoring of economic policies whilst introducing more flexibility and to revitalise the commitment to
fiscal discipline as the basis for a stable currency and for economic growth and job creation;

2. Welcomes in particular the moves to strengthen the Pact's preventive arm, the increased attention
given to debt levels and the agreement to link the Pact to the Lisbon objectives and policies, but is con-
cerned by the lack of clarity in the rules of the coercive arm of the Pact;

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Wednesday 13 April 2005

3.
Calls on the Council and Commission to come forward with the agreed changes to Regulations (EC)
No 1466/97 (1) and (EC) No 1467/97 (2) and to involve the European Parliament fully, in order to ensure
that the remaining concerns are addressed;

4.
Calls on the Commission to make full use of its right of initiative and the procedures at its disposal in
order to ensure the proper implementation of the Pact and to play an active role in macroeconomic coor-
dination; expresses doubts about this aspect of the reform, in which an opportunity was missed to streng-
then the role of the Commission;

II. Relaunching the Lisbon Process

5. Welcomes the commitment made by the Council and Commission to giving the Lisbon Strategy a new
dynamism with a new focused approach based on a three-year cycle, and its endorsement of many of the
positions adopted by Parliament before the meeting of the European Council, such as the restatement of the
interdependence of the Strategy's economic, social and environmental dimensions;

6.
Expects the Commission to show leadership in the relaunch of the Lisbon Strategy by presenting a
Community Lisbon programme which sets out a clear roadmap for action by the Community institutions;
insists on detailed consultation with Parliament on its content and on the creation of an effective Commis-
sion-Parliament mechanism for joint programming;

7.
Supports the idea that Member States should make a larger and more practical contribution to growth
and employment, and endorses the idea of introducing ‘national reform programmes’ following open dis-
cussion with stakeholders and consultation of national parliaments;

8.
Regrets, however, that the recommendation of the high-level group that the Commission should
report annually on which Member States perform best on the Lisbon goals and which Member States lag
behind was not endorsed by the European Council;

9.
Recalls that the well-being of EU citizens is a prerequisite for Europe's economic and competitive
success; welcomes the prospect of a Green Paper on demographic trends in the EU and reiterates the need
for this to be followed by concrete action;

10.
Reiterates its view that the Lisbon Strategy should be a means to reinforce the European social model
through greater social cohesion, to raise the rate and quality of employment, to improve adaptability of
workers, to invest in human capital, to modernise and secure social protection, to promote equal oppor-
tunities and gender balance, and to facilitate the balance between work and family life;

Confirms the need for a solid industrial fabric throughout Europe's territory and the necessity of

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pursuing an active industrial policy;

12.

Notes that the vital role of SMEs in innovation, growth and employment is explicitly recognised;

Shares the view that environmental policy plays an essential role in sustainable growth which con-
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tributes to employment, and underlines the importance of focusing on eco-innovation and environmental
technologies, thus allowing the EU to take up a number of challenges in the area of natural resources and
the environment, such as bio-diversity and climate change;

14. Welcomes the European Council's commitment to a fully operational
internal market in services
compatible with the European social model in order to enhance competitiveness, job creation and growth,
while guaranteeing social responsibility, protection of consumers' rights and social and environmental stan-
dards; agrees that all efforts should be undertaken within the legislative process to secure a broad consensus
for a directive on services that meets all these objectives;

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions

and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies (OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 1).

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excess-

ive deficit procedure (OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 6).

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15.
Agrees and confirms that REACH has to reconcile environmental and health concerns with the need
to promote the competitiveness of European industry, while paying particular attention to SMEs and their
ability to innovate;

Wednesday 13 April 2005

Emphasises the need to guarantee the necessary financial resources for implementing the Lisbon

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Agenda at the level of the EU budget and the national budgets;

Requests that national and European budgets, including the future Financial Perspective 2007-2013,
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be an expression of the goals pursued in the framework of the Lisbon Process; welcomes the strong support
of the European Council for the priority projects of the Trans-European Transport Network and calls on the
Council and the Member States to speed up the planning and to allocate the necessary financial resources
from national budgets for the priority projects, especially for the missing cross-border links;

18. Welcomes the position of the European Council regarding the importance and role which it assigns
to cohesion policy and sustainable transport in the relaunch of the Lisbon Strategy and the growth and
employment objectives;

19. Welcomes the fact that the overall objective of 3 % investment of the EU's GDP in the field of
Research and Development has been retained, with an appropriate split between private and public invest-
ment; calls on the Member States and the EU to give priority to research programmes that match the
objectives of enhancing quality of life and strengthening a sustainable economy; points to the importance
of investment in innovation and new technology as a key component in dealing with the challenges facing
the EU in a globalising world;

Believes that a more coherent European investment initiative is essential to the success of the Lisbon

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Strategy;

III. Sustainable development

21.
Shares the view that environmental policy represents an important contribution to sustainable
growth and employment and that the EU must take up a number of challenges related to natural resources
and environment, such as climate change and environmental technologies; welcomes the focus given to
environmental policies as an asset for growth, employment, competitiveness and, last but not least, the
quality of life; supports the Council's call for rapid implementation of the action plan for ecotechnology;

22.
Is disappointed by the timetable agreed upon for reviewing the EU's Sustainable Development Stra-
tegy, because it believes that environmental policy could offer substantial economic opportunities, especially
considering its effects on industrial innovation; therefore urges the Commission to act decisively and submit
the appropriate proposals as soon as possible; believes that it is necessary to allocate adequate financial
resources to achieve the goals defined under the revised Lisbon Strategy;

Reiterates the need for sustainable management and use of natural resources and asks the Commis-

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sion to include this in its strategy;

Believes that the Mid-Term Review should give due weight to the contribution that new technologies
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with a promising future, as well as environmental technologies and high environmental standards, can make
to a winning competitive strategy; calls for increased support for eco-technologies and eco-efficient inno-
vations; more broadly, underlines the role of quality of life as a factor in investment and industrial location;
believes that ignoring climate change and loss of biodiversity will seriously impair the ability to achieve
these goals;

25.
Recalls the need to pay urgent attention to the threat of communicable diseases, especially a potential
influenza pandemic which could particularly affect the most vulnerable sections of the population such as
children and the elderly;

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IV. Climate change

26. Welcomes the will to explore options for a post-2012 arrangement in the UN climate change process
together with the development of a long-term EU strategy, and the consideration of emission reduction
pathways in the order of 15-30 % by 2020 as a target for developed countries; insists that the EU should
retain its leading role in international efforts to tackle climate change and present concrete proposals for an
ambitious programme beyond 2012;

Emphasises that the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol are an essential condition for a global strategy
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on climate change, but that further targets need to be set for the period after 2012, and global emissions
should be reduced by half by 2050 in order to contain global warming so that it peaks below 2 °C above
pre-industrialisation levels;

28.
Stresses that additional policies and measures are necessary to achieve the collective EU-15 Kyoto
target, particularly in the energy and transport sectors, where emissions are projected to continue to grow
significantly;

29.
Urges the Member States to take further measures to increase energy saving, improve energy effi-
ciency and switch to renewable energy sources, and reiterates its demand that international agreements
should be negotiated so as to incorporate emissions from international flights and shipping in the emission
reduction targets for the second commitment period from 2012;

V. Preparing for the UN Summit

30. Welcomes the priority attached by the European Council to the preparations for the UN Summit on
the Millennium Development Goals in September; emphasises that the EU and the Member States must
demonstrate their commitment to development and the Millennium Development Goals by increasing the
proportion of the EU budget allocated to development and improving the effectiveness of aid by, for
example, working towards the complete untying of all development aid;

31.
Strongly supports the European Council's assertion that the Union's support for Africa should be
reinforced; welcomes the initiatives on Africa proposed by the Commission for 2005; stresses that this
focus on the poorest countries, which is in line with efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
and the Union's commitment to poverty eradication, must be supported by a large increase in aid from both
the Union and the Member States;

32.
Strongly supports the UN Secretary-General's call on the Heads of State and Government of devel-
oped countries to establish clear timetables for achieving the target of 0,7 % of GNI for official development
assistance; urges Member States to approve without delay the forthcoming Commission proposals for such a
concrete timetable;

Fully endorses the UN Secretary-General's call on the Heads of State and Government of developed
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countries to agree upon the launching of a series of ‘quick-win’ initiatives as proposed by the UN Millen-
nium Project headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs;

34.
Urges the Member States to show their dedication to respect for human rights by supporting the UN
Secretary-General's proposal to replace its Human Rights Commission with a stronger and more credible
Human Rights Council;

VI. External relations

35.
Recalls that Parliament has repeatedly insisted that the arms embargo on China should not be lifted
under current conditions and notes with satisfaction that the European Council did not take any further
steps towards lifting the embargo;

36. Welcomes the European Council's decision to create a task force to report on Croatia's progress in
meeting the conditions for opening accession negotiations with the European Union, and urges the Council
and Commission to send the Monitoring Task Force to Croatia as soon as possible in order to provide the
next Council meeting with reliable results as a basis for decision-making;

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Wednesday 13 April 2005

37.
Reiterates its position on the ongoing situation in Lebanon, and welcomes the announcement by the
Syrian Foreign Minister that all Syrian troops, military assets and intelligence apparatus will be withdrawn
fully and completely by 30 April 2005 in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559 (2004);
calls on the Member States and the Council to raise the question of stabilisation of Lebanon in the UN
Security Council; hopes that a new government will be formed as a contribution to the stability of the
country with the aim of organising free, fair and transparent elections as foreseen; urges the Council to
provide for an EU election observation mission, including in the run-up to the elections,
in agreement
with the Lebanese authorities;

Considers that recent events in Kyrgyzstan show the Kyrgyzstan people's desire for democratic
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change, and endorses the Council declaration asking the newly appointed leaders of that country to start a
dialogue in order to guarantee the democratic process, which includes full respect for the rule of law and
human rights, through national reconciliation;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the national

39.
parliaments of the Member States and of Bulgaria and Romania.

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