Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

No C 225 / 50 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 30 . 8 . 95

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ON THE COMMISSION 'S WORK

PROGRAMME AND LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME FOR 1995

( 95 / C 225 / 04 )

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

— having regard to Rule 49 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the interinstitutional declaration of 25 October 1993 on democracy,

transparency and subsidiarity ( 1 ),

— having regard to the Commission 's programme for 1995 ( COM(95)0026 ) and the indicative

calendar for legislative proposals and priority international agreements ( SEC(95)0244 ),

— having regard to the debate of 17 and 18 January 1995 on the political guidelines of the

nominated Commission and its decision of 18 January 1995 approving the nominated
Commission ( 2 ),

— having regard to the statement of 15 February 1995 by the President of the Commission on

the latter 's programme and the debate on that subject,

— having regard to the priorities for the first half of 1995 announced by the Council

Presidency at the January 1995 part-session,

A. whereas the Commission 's programme is a useful instrument for planning the legislative

activities of the Union 's institutions ;

B. whereas the legislative programme is an interinstitutional programme which can be
implemented effectively only if it is accepted by the Union institutions ;

Procedure

1 . Welcomes the form and structure of the programme and the prospects opened up by it ; in
particular, welcomes the inclusion in the programme of a large number of White and Green
Papers which will enable the European Parliament to express its views on new measures
and intervene in the decision-making process at an early stage ; hopes that these strategic
documents will serve as the basis for future legislative proposals ;

2 . Welcomes the announcement by Mr Santer, President of the Commission, that the
legislative programme will be assessed each autumn, and calls for the findings of that
assessment to be forwarded to it so that the Commission, the European Parliament and the
Council can reach a joint decision on the action to be taken on the various proposals ;

3 . Notes that the Commission failed to complete the 1994 legislative programme and that
Parliament has not been informed of the reasons which prompted it to abandon, transform
or postpone a number of proposals ; takes the view that explanations for each individual
case are vital to the credibility of the whole legislative programme exercise ; takes the view
that an interinstitutional assessment should be carried out, each autumn, of proposals
which have been held up in the Council for more than a year ; calls for a procedure similar
to the present budget procedure involving the Council, Parliament and the Commission to
be instituted as a means of settling disputes and monitoring the implementation of the
legislative programme ;

(') OJ No C 329, 6 . 12 . 1993, p. 133 .

( 2 ) Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 1 .

30 . 8 . 95 EN Official Journal of the European Communities No C 225 / 51

4 . Points out that during the last parliamentary term 23 % of the legislative proposals had to
be dealt with by Parliament under the urgent procedure, as requested by the Council or the
Commission ; this figure would have been even higher if, in more than 200 cases,
Parliament had not been forced to reject the request for the urgent procedure owing to the
excessively short time limits or the lack of the requisite documents ; hopes that this figure
will be considerably reduced in the future, by means of improved joint legislative planning,
in order to avoid the disputes inherent in such urgent procedures which prevent the
European Parliament from giving the proposals concerned proper attention ;

5 . Takes the view that any decision-making procedure concerning the legislative programme
must seek to secure an agreement between the Commission, Parliament and the Council ; in
this connection, calls on the Council to take part in the efforts to draw up a transparent,
effective legislative programme and to decide upon and communicate each autumn its
legislative priorities for the following year as part of a responsible interinstitutional
cooperation procedure ;

6 . Hopes that the effectiveness of the legislative programme as a working instrument can be
increased by expanding the indicative calendar to include information concerning :

— the legal bases for proposals,

— the likely date on which proposals will be submitted ;

7 . Reminds the Commission of its undertaking in principle to submit the annual programme
in October ; is aware of the exceptional circumstances which prevented observance of this
timetable for 1995 ; calls, however, on the Commission to give a firm undertaking to draw
up future legislative programmes in the autumn of the previous year, in close cooperation
with the relevant committees of the European Parliament ; hopes that the priorities outlined
by the European Parliament during that procedure will be incorporated into the legislative

programme ;

The programme

8 . Notes shortcomings in the Commission 's programme for 1995, in particular in the
following areas : measures to combat unemployment, citizens ' rights, social policy,
consumer protection, environmental protection, equal opportunities and anti-fraud
measures ; lays down its priorities for the 1995 legislative programme, calling for :

— the European Union 's first priority to be the fight against unemployment, which is rife

in Europe, bringing with it social exclusion and an increase in the number of poor
people,

— the measures needed to modernize the economy not to jeopardize the fundamental

principle of economic and social cohesion, equal opportunities and equal access to
public services ( health, education, transport, energy and telecommunications ),

— the Commission to launch an internal debate with the objective of achieving better

coordination of all the Union 's policies and instruments to strengthen economic
development, economic and social cohesion, environmental objectives and regional
solidarity ;

9 . Calls in particular :

( a ) With regard to employment and economic and social cohesion

( aa ) on the Commission to propose economic guidelines designed to transform growth
into jobs and prepare an overall plan for the creation of 15 million jobs between
now and the year 2000 . This plan should incorporate a new development model
based on the ideas set out in Chapter 10 of the ' Delors White Paper ', taking into

No C 225 / 52 HEN Official Journal of the European Communities 30 . 8 . 95

account the principles of ecologically sustainable economic growth which should be
outlined in a ' White Paper on the environment and employment '. This whole matter
should be discussed at an employment conference to be organized by the European
Parliament and the Commission in autumn 1995 ;

( ab ) for a genuine industrial policy to be drawn up with the aim of making all sectors of
European industry competitive and for that policy to take into account the views of
the two sides of industry ; a Bangemann II working party should be set up so that all
those affected by information superhighways can take part in the discussions ; for the
activities of cooperatives, mutuals and associations to be strongly encouraged, since
the social economy has an important part to play in job creation ; for the
Commission to urge the Council to establish its common position on the proposals
concerning the status of the social economy as soon as possible ;

( ac ) on the Commission to organize the monitoring of national employment policies, and
reminds the Commission of its promise to involve Parliament in carrying out the
multilateral monitoring exercise, and in formulating the recommendations to be
issued to the Member States ; calls on the Commission, in collaboration with the
European Parliament, to firm up its proposals on social convergence ;

( ad ) on the Commission to acknowledge the role of structural funds in job creation and,
to this end, to undertake to ensure effective management and horizontal integration
of programmes to optimize their impact on employment policy ;

( ae ) on the Commission to ensure cooperation between the relevant Commissioners and
their balanced input into policy development where the information society is
concerned ;

( af ) for the revival of the social dialogue at European level to lead to negotiations on a
European social pact ;

( ag ) for the blocking tactics affecting the social Europe programme to be overcome
through the application of the Social Protocol signed by 14 Member States in respect
of all proposals pending in the Council ;

( ah ) on the Commission to review the strategies laid down by the Ecofin Council and the
' Molitor ' Group, taking as its basis the report published by the International Labour
Organization challenging the effectiveness of labour market deregulation as a job
creation instrument ;

( b ) With regard to economic and monetary policy and with particular attention to its
effects on employment

( ba ) on the Commission to initiate a common approach to closer international monetary
cooperation with the ultimate aim of price stability, thereby leading to stable
exchange rates ;

( bb ) on the Commission to draw up a proposal to improve participation by Parliament,
which must be consulted on the draft texts before they are submitted to the Council,
the broad guidelines of economic policies ( Article 103 ( 2 )) of the EC Treaty ), reports
on multilateral surveillance ( Article 103 ( 3 )) and the reports and recommendations
concerning the existence of an excessive government deficit ( Article 104 ( c )) and
receive the final texts at the same time as the Council ;

( be ) on the Union to take part in a global harmonization of regulation and surveillance of
the financial system to preserve its stability and avoid negative effects on the real

economy ;

( bd ) for European Monetary Union ( EMU ) to be carefully prepared and for national
economic policies to be conducted towards fulfilment of the convergence criteria,
thereby enabling the greatest possible number of Member States to participate ;

( be ) for the legislative measures needed to move to the final stage of EMU to be prepared
and presented without delay so that EMU can be launched as soon as the conditions
for it are met ; calls for the details not to suffer when the work is speeded up ;

30 . 8 . 95 EN Official Journal of the European Communities No C 225 / 53

( bf ) for the Green Paper on the introduction of a single currency to be presented well
before the European Council in June 1995 and to be accompanied by an explanatory
document summarizing the advantages of EMU ;

( bg ) on the Commission to speed up its presentation of measures to complete the internal
market, in particular those aimed at tax harmonization :

— harmonizing VAT rates and adopting a definitive and efficient system,

— continuing with the harmonization of excise duties,

— adopting the Directive on cross-border payments without delay ;

( c ) With regard to the environment

( ca ) on the Commission to initiate in 1995 the procedure laid down in Article 20 of
Council Regulation ( EEC ) 1210 / 90 for the establishment of a European Environment
Agency and to put forward a proposal on the allocation of monitoring powers with
regard to the Community legal provisions ( environmental inspectorate );

( cb ) on the Commission to put forward new proposals to bring Community legislation
into line with the higher standards obtaining in the new Member States ;

( cc ) for a proposal for revision of the fifth environmental action programme pursuant to
the procedure set out in Article 130s ( 3 ) of the EC Treaty ;

( cd ) on the Commission to take action, pursuant to Parliament 's demand in its resolution
of 2 March 1995 on a strategy for climatic protection in the EU ('), to forward a
communication to Parliament and the Council on the reduction aims for carbon

dioxide emissions in the EU in 2005 and 2010 and insists that such reductions

should attain 20 % by 2005 ;

( ce ) for a directive on least-cost planning ;

( cf ) for revision of the existing law on waste and the Community waste strategy by
means of a general action programme for an integrated European waste management
policy ;

( eg ) for a directive on soil protection incorporating strict rules on protection against
pollutants and provisions governing sustainable soil use ( land use, erosion,
compression );

( ch ) for a comprehensive strategy on the reduction of CO2 emissions and the progressive
introduction of a European energy and CO2 tax which respects the principle of fiscal
neutrality ;

( ci ) for a directive on the reduction of the proportion of benzene in petrol, stipulating
that the proportion of benzene, which is regarded as carcinogenic, should be cut to
less than 1 % ;

( cj ) for work, with the help of a commitment given by the industrial sectors concerned,
towards the introduction of the ' five-litre car ' ( maximum average fuel consumption
of five litres per 100 kilometres for newly registered cars by the year 2005 );

( ck ) on the Commission to include in its work programme the old proposal for NO x
norms for aeroplanes, promised in 1993 but never presented ;

( cl ) for a general, comprehensive action programme to combat noise ;

(') Minutes of that date, Part II, Item 3 .

No C 225 / 54 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 30 . 8 . 95

( cm ) for legal provisions on the protection of lakes, rivers and streams against phosphates

and the reduction of coastal and maritime pollution ;

( cn ) for a directive on the transport of dangerous substances by pipeline ;

( co ) for a directive making the law on environmental liability effective ;

( cp ) for a directive which gives environmental NGOs the right to institute class actions

before the Court of Justice on environmental matters ;

( cq ) for a White Paper on the environmental aspects of the accession of the countries of

central and eastern Europe to the European Union ;

( cr ) for a Green Paper on trade and the environment as well as measures supporting
fairness and solidarity in trade as requested by Parliament 's resolution of 19 January

1994 on promoting fairness and solidarity in North-South trade ( J );

( d ) ' With regard to consumer protection policy

( da ) for the Commission, in the Green Paper on legal provisions relating to foodstuffs, to

give a clear commitment to harmonization of consumer-friendly systems for the
labelling of the quality of foodstuffs and to amplify the law on labelling in force in
the Community in order to ensure that consumers receive clear, readily
understandable information, not least as regards advertising claims ;

( db ) for a directive on protection against unfair advertising ;

( e ) With regard to health policy

( ea ) on the Commission to present a comparative analysis of the health systems of the

Member States in order to establish efficiency criteria for improved cooperation
between the Member States in accordance with Article 129 of the EC Treaty ;

( eb ) for common European Union standards to be defined to ensure minimum levels of

health care ;

( f ) With regard to human rights and citizens ' rights and transparency

( fa ) for the necessary steps to be taken to enable the European Union to accede to the
European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms in 1995 ;

( fb ) on the Commission to propose all the necessary measures to ensure the free
movement of persons and recalls that the European Parliament has been obliged to
initiate proceedings for failure to act in order to protect this essential right of
European citizens ;

( fc ) for a directive to be adopted to combat racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, and
revisionist acts and denial of the holocaust ;

( fd ) for a framework directive on immigration to be drawn up, followed by specific
directives on reuniting families, access to the labour market, vocational training,
return to the country of origin and the status of temporary workers ;

( fe ) for a proposal to follow up the Green Paper on legal redress for consumers, with the
aim of simplifying and speeding up the settlement of transfrontier disputes and
improving access to and the quality of legal aid ;

( ff ) on the Commission to work with Parliament on establishing a code of conduct
concerning the activities of lobbyists, guaranteeing transparency for these activities ;

C ) OJ No C 44, 14 . 2 . 1994, p . 119 .

30 . 8 . 95 lEN ! Official Journal of the European Communities No C 225 / 55

( fg ) on the Commission to take a decision on the right of citizens to be kept informed, in
which it undertakes to publish in the Official Journal of the European Communities
any plans for legislation together with a schedule, thereby enabling citizens and
undertakings to make their opinion known, and to set up a public register listing all
those who have been consulted by the Commission or who have delivered an
opinion ;

( fh ) on the Commission to take a decision in which it undertakes to bring proceedings
before the Court of Justice with a view to imposing fines whenever a Member State
fails to take the necessary measures to comply with a judgment of the Court of
Justice within one year ( Article 171 of the EC Treaty );

( g ) With regard to legal affairs

for a directive to coordinate the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
relating to the reorganization and liquidation ( insolvency ) of businesses operating in
several Member States ;

( h ) With regard to equal opportunities

for the principles fundamental to equal opportunities to be observed in all sectoral
policies ; more particularly, for the submission at the earliest opportunity, as part of
the fourth action programme for equal opportunities between men and women, of
measures to allow the rapid adoption of the directives pending in the following

areas :

— atypical forms of work,

— equality of treatment for men and women in statutory and complementary social

security schemes,

— the reversal of the burden of proof,

— sexual harassment, and

— parental leave,

in order to eliminate discrimination to which women are still subjected in the labour
market ;

( i ) With regard to public services

( ia ) for equality among the citizens of the Union to entail equal access for all to basic
services . The modernization of the economy must not be carried out at the expense
of consumers ; the Commission should propose a definition of ' universal service ' for
all sectors, and not just postal services, a sectoral approach being unacceptable ;

( ib ) for a political solution along the lines proposed by Parliament in its opinions of 17
November 1993 on the proposals for directives on common rules for the internal
market in electricity and natural gas ('); insists that this proposal be based on Article

100a of the EC Treaty and rejects all attempts to establish these rules on any other
legal basis ( i . e . by means of directives or decisions based on Article 90 of the EC
Treaty );

( ic ) for the formal recognition of the role of public services and public administration in
the implementation of Community regional policy and in achieving the goal of
economic and social cohesion ;

( id ) on the Commission to refrain from using Article 90 ( 3 ) of the EC Treaty except in
exceptional cases, after consultation of Parliament, and to avoid using it in any
matter connected with the drafting of directives ;

( j ) With regard to media concentration and the pluralism of information and culture

( ja ) on the Commission to propose as quickly as possible a directive to regulate and
restrict media concentration and encourage pluralism in the European Union ; to

O OJ No C 329, 6 . 12 . 1993, pp . 150 and 182 .

No C 225 / 56 PÉNl Official Journal of the European Communities 30 . 8 . 95

adopt the revised ' Television without frontiers ' Directive in April 1995, maintaining
and improving in the measures on the application of the distribution quotas for
European audiovisual production ; to propose the establishment of a guarantee fund
for the film industry and the audiovisual sector ;

( jb ) on the Commission to propose, in the process of developing the information society,
a Green Paper on intellectual property and take into account the impact of the
information society on democracy, employment education, data protection and the
protection of privacy, civil liberties and culture ;

( jc ) for a programme to safeguard the architectural heritage, making use of European
audiovisual media ;

( k ) With regard to energy and research

( ka ) for a special proposal covering all measures to promote renewable energies ;

( kb ) for a communication on the future of the ECSC and Euratom Treaties ;

( kc ) for the proposal on the refinancing of the fourth framework programme of research

to be made available in good time so that Parliament can consider it under
democratically acceptable conditions ;

( kd ) for significant improvements in administrative procedures for involving small and

medium-sized enterprises in R&TD programmes, in particular by introducing
efficient information measures and simplifying rules ;

( ke ) for a long-term policy on space and the aeronautics sector ;

( 1 ) With regard to transport and tourism

( la ) for directives on working time in the transport sectors and the revision of Regulation

( EEC ) No 3820 / 85 which incorporates the concept of ' service time ';

( lb ) for immediate proposals for the measures still needed to complete the internal
transport market and urges the Commission to make rigorous use of the powers
conferred on it by the Treaty to compel the Member States to transpose Community
legislation into national law ;

( lc ) on the Commission immediately to submit instead of a White Paper a proposal for
the institutional and technical regulation of air traffic management and control and
agreements with third countries ;

( Id ) on the Commission to present its long overdue Green Paper on tourism as soon as
possible ;

( m ) With regard to the budget, budgetary control and the fight against fraud

( ma ) for detailed practical proposals :

— to strengthen budgetary discipline, both in the Commission and in the Member

States,

— on the role of the reorganized anti-fraud unit ( UCLAF ) in spearheading the fight

against fraud,

— on the role of the Member States in combating fraud against the Union budget,

— on improving financial management and control, in particular of the structural

funds, which constitute 36 % of the Union budget ;

30 . 8 . 95 EN Official Journal of the European Communities No C 225 / 57

( mb ) for a proposal on the classification of expenditure ;

( mc ) for a report on the cost of enlargement to central and eastern Europe in the

agricultural field ;

( md ) on the Commission to take positive initiatives to budgetize Lome funding, which

would give Parliament much needed democratic control ;

( me ) for the unilateral suspension of the payments to be made in all spheres of
Community policy where Member States, in breach of Article 209a of the EC Treaty,
fail to protect the financial interests of the Union ;

( mf ) on the Commission to give priority to following up the reports to be prepared in

response to the Essen Council showing the action which Member States themselves
are taking to protect the financial interests of the Community in the same way as
their own ;

( n ) With regard to agriculture and fisheries

( na ) for the legislative programme to be completed by the following elements :

— a framework regulation to be drawn up laying down the basic principles of a

proper integrated rural development policy,

— support for Parliament 's legislative initiative ( Article 138b ) aimed at establishing a

global strategy on Union forestry policy,

— a simplification of the rules reforming the CAP, as requested by the European

Parliament,

— stronger promotion of renewable raw materials and better coordination of

research and demonstration projects to allow this sector to be exploited
efficiently ;

( nb ) for a Green Paper to be drawn up on working conditions and safety on board fishing

vessels ;

( nc ) for proposals for a specific Mediterranean policy ;

( nd ) for specific proposals to deal with unemployment in the fisheries sector caused by the

depletion of fish stocks as a result of environmental and economic problems ;

( ne ) on the Commission to take the necessary measures to integrate the fisheries

agreements with developing countries into the development policy of the EU ;

( o ) With regard to foreign affairs and development policy

( oa ) on the Commission to draw up a White Paper on the common foreign and security

policy ; to put forward, in preparation for the 1996 IGC, proposals to remove the
democratic deficit in foreign policy ; to work, in the meantime, towards the
conclusion of an interinstitutional agreement allowing Parliament to be involved as
closely as possible in formulating and implementing the CFSP ;

( ob ) for the establishment of a proper common security policy . Ensuring that there is

peace in Europe is primarily the responsibility of Europeans themselves . NATO, the
WEU, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council and the OSCE are important
components in this common security system for the whole of Europe ;

( oc ) for the continuation of the pre-accession strategy for the countries of central and

eastern Europe, Malta and Cyprus, and asks to be involved fully in this work ;

No C 225 / 58 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 30 . 8 . 95

( od ) for the establishment of peace through cooperation . The Commission is therefore

urged to take the initiative in persuading the Union to cancel the multilateral and
bilateral debt of the developing countries, particularly the ACP States . With regard to
the trade aspects, a meaningful system of trade preferences for the ACP countries
must be retained . As far as the countries of Central and South America and Asia are

concerned, efforts must be made to bring about the conclusion of the cooperation
agreement with Mercosur, and the partnership agreement with Mexico, and
vigorously to pursue the implementation of the new strategy for Asia . Education,
health, job-creation and rural and urban development measures taken by the
developing countries must be encouraged via the European reconstruction and
development programme ;

( oe ) on the Commission to propose legal bases allowing Parliament to participate fully in

the conclusion of the agreements with South Africa and the signatory states of the
Lome Convention ;

( of ) on the Commission to make its contribution to establish a new framework for
relations between the EU and non-member countries in the Mediterranean ; this
framework, based on the experience of the Helsinki process, should give rise to a
Euro-Mediterranean conference on security, cooperation and development ;

( p ) With regard to internal affairs

( pa ) on the Commission to make active use of the means granted to it under Title VI of

the EC Treaty and to provide for proposals under Article K.3 ( 2 ); for Parliament to
be properly informed and consulted in accordance with Article K.6 and for a full
overview to be made available to it ;

( pb ) on the Commission to use the potential of the third pillar to the full, including

application of the Article K.9 procedure ;

( q ) With regard to the Community civil service

on the Commission to submit a proposal for a regulation introducing special
measures to terminate the service of officials and temporary staff of the European
Parliament following the enlargement of the European Union on 1 January 1995 ;

( r ) With regard to the 1996 IGC

( ra ) on the Commission to take into account the fact that the two European Parliament
representatives in the Reflection Group are full members with the same status as the
representatives of the Member States and the Commission ;

( rb ) on the Commission, in its report, and through its representatives on the Reflection
Group, to demonstrate its solidarity with Parliament concerning the important
institutional reforms which must be carried out at the Intergovernmental Conference
in 1996 in order to strengthen Parliament, in particular by extending the co-decision
procedure ;

10 . Calls on the Council to express its views and play a full part in the negotiations which will
be required to implement the 1995 legislative programme ;

11 . Instructs its President to reach agreement, on this basis, with the President of the

Commission on the annual legislative programme for 1995 ;

12 . Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the

parliaments of the Member States, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee
of the Regions .