3-4 July European Parliament

Date: 11/07/1996

EU leaders were roundly criticised by MEPs for failing to do more at the Florence summit to tackle record unemployment levels. A resolution supported by five of the European Parliament's eight political groups deplored “the unacceptable delays” in implementing the European Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competition and Employment and questioned the political readiness of some member states to back Union action. It also regretted the summit's refusal to support the Commission's bid for increased funding for Trans-European Networks and its failure to accept any of the Parliament's recommendations for stimulating economic growth. Responding to criticism from MEPs, Commission President Jacques Santer insisted they should not underestimate the signals coming from the summit as “they are of the utmost importance for the mobilisation of responsibilities”.

THERE was, however, a pat on the back for the summit's success in solving the BSE crisis, although the UK came in for criticism over its blocking tactics. MEPs drew a wider lesson from the events leading up to the summit, agreeing that “this episode illustrates once again the need for the Intergovernmental Conference to endow the EU with decision-making procedures that do not allow the Union to be blocked in this way”. This was echoed by German Christian Democrat MEP Elmar Brok, one of the Parliament's two observers to the IGC, who argued that the 'mad cow' crisis provided an “excellent opportunity” to demonstrate the need for a treaty that could work with a “destructive partner”.

SMALL firms and the problems they face occupied a large part of the Parliament's two-day Brussels mini-session. One of the most widespread problems cited was the failure to speed up payment of bills. Within the Union, payments are on average 13 days overdue, although the figure ranges from 23 days in the UK to seven in Sweden. To tackle the problem, British Socialist MEP Lyndon Harrison argued for binding EU legislation to provide companies with a statutory right to interest payments. Several MEPs complained that the Commission itself was sometimes a late payer. With 95&percent; of the 1-billion-ecu subsidised lending facility set up three years ago already taken up, MEPs asked the Commission to expand the scheme, and provide more information on the 42,000 jobs it has helped create. The fund enables small businesses to secure bank loans at 2&percent; below market rates.

THE EU's three newest member states, Sweden, Finland and Austria, need not fear that their high environmental standards will be threatened by future Union legislation, Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard told the Parliament. This pledge followed widespread concern at the Commission's failure to suggest ways of raising existing EU standards to the same level as those in the new member states. But it did not prevent MEPs from criticising the absence of concrete results and from laying down a deadline of April 1997 for the publication of its review of the standards now used in the Union.