Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - Macao Special Administrative Region : Annual Report 2004 {SEC(2005) 1040}
Date: 2005-08-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: China, EU relations, Macao, gaming establishment, legal system, report

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 05.08.2005 
COM(2005) 363 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

Macao Special Administrative Region: 
Annual Report 2004 

{SEC(2005) 1040} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

Macao Special Administrative Region: 
Annual Report 2004 

The political situation in Macao in 2004 was marked by stability, with the territory continuing 
the process of consolidation as a special administrative region five years after its handover to 
the  People’s  Republic  of  China  (PRC).  Its  progressive  political  and  constitutional 
development was carried out in line with the Basic Law.  

In  February,  the  Macao  Government  passed  the  draft  Chief  Executive  Election  bill  after 
consultation  of  the  PRC’s  Central  Government  and  the  territory’s  Executive  Council.  The 
legislation was debated in the territory’s Legislative Assembly and amendments were tabled 
by opposition delegates asking that members of the associations representative of the various 
social  and  economic  sectors  in  Macao  take  part  in  appointing  members  of  the  electoral 
committee.  On  21  February  the  legislation  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority  of  Legislative 
Assembly delegates, although the opposition’s proposals were not included. 

Mr  Edmund  Ho,  the  current  Chief  Executive,  who  was  the  only  candidate  for  his  own 
succession,  was  re-elected  with  an  overwhelming  majority  of  98%  of  the  votes  cast  in  the 
electoral committee in August 2004. Mr Ho and his entire team were entrusted with a second 
five-year  mandate  on  the  occasion  of  the  official  visit  of  PRC  President,  Mr  Hu  Jintao,  on 
20 December  2004  to  mark  the  fifth  anniversary  of  the  creation  of  the  Macao  Special 
Administrative Region (MSAR). The Chinese President reaffirmed the PRC’s attachment to 
the tenets of the MSAR’s Basic Law and especially to the territory’s autonomous status based 
on the principle that “Macao people administer Macao”.  

Following the Chief Executive’s presentation of his political programme in November 2004, 
the Commission welcomes the recent setting-up within the Macao Government of the Legal 
and Legislative Reform Office, which will coordinate among other things the implementation 
of  measures  to  improve  the  operationality  of  the  MSAR’s  legal  system.  The  training  of 
judges,  magistrates  and  bilingual  legal  officials  will  thus  be  continued  with  a  view  to 
accelerating  legal  procedures,  thereby  making  the  administration  of  justice  more  equitable. 
Efforts  must  also  continue  in  translating  from  Portuguese  into  Chinese  of  laws,  regulations 
and other legal texts facilitating access of the population of Macao to the legal system.  

The  Commission  welcomes  the  Macao  Government’s  intention  to  preserve  the  MSAR’s 
international  role  by,  in  particular,  strengthening  its  links  with  the  European  Union.  The 
signing  of  the  Regional  Cooperation  Agreement  in  the  Pearl  River  Delta  by  the  MSAR  in 
June  2004  and  the  setting-up  in  Macao  of  the  secretariat  of  the  Forum  for  Economic  and 
Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries are important steps in 
affirming  Macao’s  role  as  a  regional  centre  for  the  promotion  of  business  and  foreign 
investment in China, especially in Guangdong province.  

In  2004  Macao  underwent  record  economic  development  following  the  liberalisation  of  the 
gambling  sector  and  the  significant  development  of  the  tourist  sector  stimulated  by  the 
adoption of the system facilitating the entry of tourists from the PRC. After a 14% increase in 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
2003,  GDP  rose  by  28%  in  2004.  Other  economic  sectors  such  as  industry,  property  and 
aviation also developed robustly and the state of the labour market improved markedly. The 
tightening of economic links between Macao and China strengthened integration between the 
two  economies,  particularly  following  the  setting  up  of  the  Macao-Zhuai  cross-border 
industrial zone and the implementation of the CEPA agreement (Closer Economic Partnership 
Arrangement) on 1 January 2004.  

The  Commission  welcomes  the  strength  of  Macao’s  economic  performance  and  encourages 
the territory’s authorities to continue the consolidation process while implementing measures 
to diversify MSAR’s economic base.  

The 10th Joint Committee took place in Macao on 3 March 2004. The Commission stressed 
its  attachment  to  the  effective  implementation  of  MSAR’s  Basic  Law  and  welcomed  the 
region’s economic growth. Macao focussed in particular on the EU’s historic enlargement to 
take in ten new Member States and the institutional and administrative reform under way.  

On 13 March 2004 Mr Pascal Lamy made the first visit by a Commissioner to Macao. He met 
the  Chief  Executive,  Mr  Edmund  Ho.  Their  mutual  commitment  to  cooperating  in  fields  of 
joint interest was stressed.  

A detailed assessment by the Commission is given in working paper SEC(2005) 1040. 

EN 

3 

   EN