1 LIST OF CONTENTS Introduction: Meeting the Challenge ................................................................................................... 3 1. The Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and Food Safety .............................................. 5 tabled by Henri Nallet PES Vice Chair, Willi Görlach MEP and Frans Timmermans, MP including comments from SAP ................................................................................................................ 13 2. The European Constitution ................................................................................................................. .. 17 tabled by PES Vice Chair Giuliano Amato 3. Globalisation: - Europe 2004, Changing the future ................................................................................................. 21 tabled by high level policy group chaired by PES Rapporteur Poul Nyrup Rasmussen 4. Growth and Employment - Promoting investment, sustainable growth and full employment ................................... 41 - Momentum for recovery in Europe promoting public and private investment ............ 55 tabled by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, PES Rapporteur 5. * Managing migration and integration tabled by Anna Terrón i Cusí, MEP 6. The Roma people: discrimination and exclusion ........................................................................... 64 tabled by Jan Marinus Wiersma, PES Vice Chair 7. European party statute: strengthening the Party of European Socialists ............................ 76 tabled by Ruairi Quinn, PES treasurer and Antony Beumer, Secretary General 8. PES Working group paper on Sustainable Development ............................................................ 88 tabled by Göran Persson, SAP Leader and Prime Minister 2 9. The PES and SI initiative to rebuild the Transatlantic Partnership ....................................... 106 drafted by PES Secretariat 10 Europe's new neighbours: A post-enlargement strategy for European foreign . policy .......................................................................................................................... ................................ 110 tabled by PES Vice Chairs Rudolf Scharping and Jan Marinus Wiersma * to be distributed at a later date 3 4 Introduction MEETING THE CHALLENGE The party of European Socialists is fortunate to have Europe's finest political talent within its ranks. In the past four years, we have put those talented people to work, turning to them for solutions to the problems that are on modern Europe's doorstep. Working groups of experts have invested considerable energy analysing the challenges and showing how to meet them in accordance with the underlying values and principles that unite us across all our national frontiers. This volume presents the results of the political energy we harnessed to give voters our vision of a Europe that puts real people first. We offer it as a complement to our manifesto for the European elections of June 2004. We invite readers to consider carefully the policy options put forward here. We are convinced that we have a coherence and a vision that no other European political family can match - and we believe that our vision is one that will win overwhelming support from the electorate. Robin Cook, President of the Party of European Socialists 5 6 7 The Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and Food Safety drafted by PES Vice-chair Henri NALLET (France), MEP Willi GÖRLACH (Germany) and Frans Timmermans MP (Netherlands) for the PES Presidency (Document revised after the PES CAP seminar – 14 & 15/10/2002) Brussels, November 2002 8 9 CAP REFORM AND FOOD SAFETY Why do we need to contemplate yet another reform of the Common Agricultural Policy ? The Common Agricultural Policy has met the aims it was set by the Treaty of Rome: increasing farm output and giving farmers a good quality of life; bringing stability to the market and guaranteeing supplies; and providing food for the people at reasonable prices. The CAP has made Europe one of the great agricultural powers on the planet despite the inevitable and ever-increasing fall in the number of farm workers. But beyond these achievements, the CAP is regularly criticised, especially by developing countries that find it hard to penetrate the EU market with what is often their only possible export, farm produce. This was again the case at the Johannesburg Summit. On top of that, for many years this policy has been in such deep trouble that the Commission proposes further reform in 2002 without waiting for longer term deadlines, in particular without waiting for agreement on a new budget framework in 2006. The first reason for reform now is linked to the timetable for agricultural matters: in 2002, the beef and dairy markets must be dealt with, together with a “review” of the decisions taken in Berlin in 1999 when the Agenda 2000 was adopted. Next, the preparation of EU enlargement forces farm policy reforms that take account of the arrival of new member states. Similarly, the new round of World Trade Organisation talks make farm policy reform desirable in order to meet our international commitments. Finally, in 2006 we have to open up the whole question of the EU budget framework. We have little time left to say what we want to do and do what must be done. That is why we believe it is urgent to begin the reform of this common policy that for a considerable period has underpinned our united Europe. In addition, mad cow disease highlighted the need for the CAP to better respond at one and the same time to economic, social and environmental demands. This disease sparked a major loss of public faith in the safety of food supplies and threw into question a "productivist"1 system suspected of threatening the environment and lowering food quality levels. It also gave rise to criticism of farm policy decision-making , seen by many to be lacking in openness and scarcely democratic. Such broad-based concern would by itself fully justify reforms aimed at bringing the CAP into line with the expectations of the people and, in so doing, to rebuild trust between farmers and consumers. This reform should allow the 15 Member states to give a clear signal to farmers and consumers about the aims and instruments that a new CAP of the 21st century will have. However, we must neither get carried away with ourselves nor try to outwit the people. The nature of production will always be different from one country to another, from one region to another, and it will always be difficult to counteract the fall in the number of farm workers. So, we must reform what needs to be reformed in order to achieve what we might term the best technical and economic scenario for each natural region and each type of production. This will be a form of agriculture that allows the supply of cheap, good quality produce in a way that respects the environment and the well-being of animals whilst giving 1 This relates to the damaging effects of the intensification of agricultural labour by unit of agricultural land. 10 the families involved a good enough income. In short, we must bring the so-called "European Agricultural Model" into line with the expectations of society. The principles underlying reform The CAP remains the first and major common EU policy. Whilst it has met the targets set by the Treaty of Rome, it has also enabled EU integration and has thereby played its part in bringing our economies and our societies closer together. We must bear all of this in mind when we look at questions of reform, when we decide on the long term aims that we might set for our farm sector and when we consider the underlying principles that we want the CAP to match up to. In this political perspective, we must be clear about the place that farming, food and the countryside will have in society, taking into account all of the people involved, primarily farm workers and consumers. A problem arises from society's demand for farming to deliver both goods and services – sometimes marketable, sometimes not. Often, society expects agriculture to achieve contradictory results – for example provide food at the highest quality but at the lowest possible price. So for us, seeking the highest possible quality must not lead to such food price rises that we end up with a two-tier system of production – one for the rich and one for the poor – or such high standards that we slam the doors on access to our markets for farm produce from developing countries. Such multi-level expectations often lead to talk about the "multifunctionality" of farming. The idea that agriculture must both guarantee production of marketable goods (farm produce) and safeguard public and non- marketable resources (water, air, the countryside) is now broadly accepted and we in the PES take this on board. Thus, the PES proposes the following demands and aims: Farming must first of all supply most of the produce needed to feed the people of Europe and it must do so in sufficient quantity and guaranteed quality at an acceptable price. Production aims remain at the heart of our collective needs as far as farming is concerned and remain the basis of the farming business. Attaining these aims presupposes increased but better managed output from which farm workers will earn most of their income. Too much price pressure always entails a risk of lower quality and lower farm incomes. We must also take the view that the safety and range of our food supplies remain legitimate and desirable aim in a way that is both flexible and reasonable.