E U R 0 PEA N PARLIAMENT GROUP OF THE EUROPEAN PEOPLE•s PARTY (CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRATIC GROUP) EPP HJRCl'PAN POOMS PARTY HEART OF EUROPE ---------------------------- REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES July 1992 -July 1993 CONTENTS PREFACE of the EPP Group Chairman 7 Introduction Pascal FONTAINE (F) 9 THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEES - Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security Guillermo CASAN (SP)/Ursula BAUSCH (D) 15 • Subcommittee on Security and Disarmament Carlo PALASSOF (I) 37 • Subcommittee on Human Rights Carlo PALASSOF (I) 41 - Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development Werner KROGEL (D)/Antonio PRETO (I) 44 • Subcommittee on Fisheries Carmen FRAGA (SP) 69 - Committee on Budgets Jan WESTENBROEK (NL) 83 - Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy Stefan PFITZNER (D) 91 • Subcommittee on Monetary Affairs Christine DETOURBET (F) 102 - Committee on Energy, Research and Technology Paolo LICANDRO (I) 104 - Committee on External Economic Relations Niels PEDERSEN (DK) 117 - Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights !lias KAVALIERAKIS (GR) 134 3 - Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment Klaus KELLERSMANN (D) 156 Committee on Regional Policy, Regional Planning and Relations with Regional and Local Authorities Spyridon EFSTATHOPOULOS (GR) 176 - Committee on Transport and Tourism Romain STRASSER (LX) 186 - Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection Martin KAMP (D) 207 - Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media Ute ZURMAHR (D) 220 - Committee on Development and Cooperation Arthur HILDEBRANDT (NL) 229 • ACP-EEC Joint Assembly Arthur HILDEBRANDT Suzanne DERUYVER (B) and Joseph LUKYAMUZI (Adviser for Africa) 233 . The Group's Policy on Africa 241 - Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Alan REID (GB) 242 - Committee on Budgetary Control David STEEL (GB) 250 - Committee on Institutional Affairs Beatrice SCARASCIA MUGNOZZA (I) 258 - Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities Mariangela FONTANINI (I) 267 - Committee on Women's Rights Veronique DONCK (B) 272 - Committee on Petitions Sandra GAMBOA (SP) 280 4 - Topical and Urqent Subjects of Major Importance Arthur HILDEBRANDT (NL) in cooperation with: Cecile CARTON (B) and Suzanne DERUYVER (B) 289 OTHER ACTIVITIES - The Year in Brief Pascal FONTAINE (F) 303 OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE EPP GROUP - Relations between the EPP Group and Christian Democrat and Conservative Parliamentary Parties in the EEC Maria Beatrice SCARASCIA MUGNOZZA (I) 313 STATISTICAL DATA Inqe KOTZAK (D) 315 5 P R E F A C E Whilst the main concern in early 1992 involved the difficulties encountered in the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1993 saw a build-up of the destructive impact of the economic crisis in Europe. The crisis currently affecting Europe has three aspects: monetary, cyclical and structural. Moreover, the crisis has been exacerbated by political uncertainty and, to an even greater extent, by military conflicts. The continuing civil war in the former Yugoslavia and the unrest afflicting the CIS countries are weighing heavily on economic conditions in Europe. We must therefore find a rapid response to the dwindling competitiveness of the European economy and its inability to create sufficient jobs. Innovative measures must be taken in a large number of areas. In the current recession, Europe needs monetary stability more than ever. The fight against the economic crisis and unemployment must therefore be the Community's main priority. If Europe fails to develop a large-scale plan to reduce unemployment, the European ideal will be the first to suffer. The worldwide economic crisis has hit us at the very moment when we are seeking to create an internal market, but that is no reason for us to give in to a conspiracy of anti-European forces, which are often inspired by nationalist sentiments comparable to those which ravaged Europe in the 1930s and which, in the economic and monetary field, propose what amounts to a return to the disastrous policies of the pre-war period. The crisis which the countries of the Community are currently undergoing is one of the most serious they have ever had to face. Partial or short­ term solutions will not suffice to remedy the situation. Similarly, action at national or regional level only - which would merely be a return to 'everyone for himself' policies -would solve nothing. Finally, the global scale of the crisis calls for an international strategy. Only a global strategy taking into consideration all aspects of the crisis will enable us to meet this challenge. The only way to give fresh impetus to Europe, then, is to give fresh impetus to the European ideal, since it is the only one which has proved equal to the task of ending the antagonisms which have raged throughout our continent. We must again show our determination to promote progress within Europe. We must therefore stimulate, motivate and mobilize Europe and find the necessary courage and the right language to explain to the man in the street the innovatory nature of European integration. There is no body which can acquit itself of this task better than the European Parliament. ~ ~ \ Leo TINDEMANS Chairman,_of th~ EPP Group in the Eur~pean Parliament 7 ACTIVITY REPORT JUNE 1992 - JULY 1993 INTRODUCTION I. 1993: the crisis January 1st 1993, the date on which the single market entered into force, was expected to be a landmark in the history of European integration. This date, laid down in the Single Act, was to be the culmination of a long process aimed at dissolving all fiscal, technical and legislative barriers between the Twelve which inhibited the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital. Although the goal was achieved, the people of Europe were not in the mood to celebrate the event as planned. The severity of the economic crisis and the inexorable rise in unemployment tended to mask the progress made in the integration process: the out­ standing features of 1993 were the recession (an average decline in GDP of 0.5%) and an increase in unemployment to an average of 12% of the working population. Government concerns were dominated by the entry of the Community into the recessionary cycle. The beginnings of the crisis appeared in September 1992 when the pound and the lira, followed in November by the escudo and the peseta, were forced to leave the European monetary system. The escudo and the peseta were further devalued on 14 May 1993. Thus, the very unity of the European monetary system was threatened as some currencies abandoned high interest rates while others (the mark, the French franc, the Belgian franc and the guilder) succeeded in preserving their fluctuation margins. However, the rise in interest rates, which led to competitive disinflation, has been reversed in the second quarter of 1993. A climate of Europessimism and Euroscepticism has dominated this period. Is the Community an effective means of reducing the impact of the crisis? The governments of the Twelve have continued to believe so, as have the members of the EPP Group, who have stated on several occasions that the crisis has been aggravated primarily by the lack of progress made towards monetary integration and the failure to close ranks over short-term economic policy. Thus, at the June 1993 part-session, the EPP Group supported the decision of the Copenhagen European Council (21-~2 June) to call on the Commission to present, by the European Council meeting of December 1993 at the latest, a white paper based on the document 'Entering the 21st century'. The aim is for the Community institutions to adopt a package of measures to amplify the effects of the Community growth initiative, increase the competitiveness of production sectors in the Community, encourage job creation and allow a better allocation of resources to the advantage of the structurally weaker regions of the Community. 9 II. Ratification of the Maastricht Treaty The EPP Group has consistently supported the process of ratifying the Treaty on European Union. The yes-vote in the referendum held in France on 20 September 1992 (51 .4% in favour) was a major event in the history of the Community. It gave the green light to the other countries which have proceeded by the method of parliamentary ratification and was partly responsible for the yes-vote (56.8%) in the second referendum in Denmark on 18 May 1993. However, the target of implementing the Treaty on 1 January 1993 or even 1 July 1993 has not been met, as the ratification procedure in the UK House of Commons and House of Lords has not yet been completed and the constitutional question in Germany has not been resolved. These ups and downs have at least involved public opinion in the debate on European union. The desire for greater democracy in the functioning of the institutions, greater transparency and application of the subsidiarity principle seems to have been understood by most governments. The EPP Group argued in the interinstitutional Trialogue for the institution of the ombudsman to be established by the stated deadline and for interinstitutional agreements to be concluded on subsidiarity, transparency and democracy. On 16 October 1992 the Birmingham European Council adopted a document entitled 'A Community close to its citizens', which put forward a number of rules on application of the subsidiarity principle. The Edinburgh European Council, meeting on 11-12 December 1992, by agreeing on certain principles to which Denmark could refer in its interpretation of the Maastricht Treaty, greatly assisted the yes­ vote given by the Danish people a few months later. The same European Council adopted a number of measures on the structural funds, which assured the 'cohesion' countries of the solidarity of the more developed countries. Advocates of the free movement of persons were disappointed when it emerged that neither the signatories to the Schengen Agreements nor the Community institutions acting under Article Sa of the Single Act were able to meet their promise of abolishing identity checks at intra­ Community borders on 1 January 1993.