Economy, work and youth

The preparation and holding of the European Council, the situation of the euro zone (with the ‘hot potato’ of Greece), and the EU budget for 2011: this week’s work in the EU headquarters was mainly devoted to these questions, which were discussed both during the plenary of the EP (24-25 March) and at the summit of heads of state and of government (25-26 March). A “safety net”. Officially the European Council had only two questions on the order of the day: European Strategy 2020 on employment and growth, and post-Copenhagen on the environment and climate change. But the financial problems that the government of Athens is having to grapple with in this phase heated the debate in the EP and concentrated minds at the European summit. “What’s at stake is the principle of financial security, which is an essential prerequisite of the euro. So the question must be tackled”, had said José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission, on the eve of the meeting of European leaders. In Barroso’s view what’s needed is a “safety net” but one to be used “only in exceptional cases and only after having evaluated all the other possible options, beginning with the national ones”. The head of the Executive thus presented himself before the Council convinced of the need to “create a mechanism to help Greece that responds to the principles of responsibility and solidarity”. Crisis and governance, but who foots the bill? Another significant meeting to grasp the questions under discussion and the political approaches to them was the audition of Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, at the European Parliament. The head of the central bank of the euro zone, grilled by MEPs, spoke of the need for “surveillance”, “price stability”, “development” and “cooperation on shared objectives”. He reaffirmed the ECB’s policy guidelines in the context of the recession and tackled, albeit indirectly, the questions on the agenda of the European Council. “The pace of economic revival – said Trichet – will be unequal”. “We need to reinforce vigilance, promote development, and respect the Stability Pact. And the financial system must play a constructive and not a destructive role in support of the real economy”: hence his conviction of the need to “pay maximum attention to the banking and financial sector”. Olli Rehn, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, during the same debate, underlined that the general economic situation remains characterized “by a very high degree of uncertainty”. Commenting on the case of Greece, he said that what are needed in this phase are “aid” and “vigilance”: “These problems demonstrate that the economic governance of the European Union needs to be reinforced”. The chamber in part shared the views of its interlocutors, but various MEPs insisted on the economic aspects of the crisis and on the fact that it will once again be “the more vulnerable citizens and social classes” that will have to “foot the bill for the recession”.Meeting between the EU and labour/employers organizations. Immediately prior to the official start of the summit, the Europe Strategy 2020 received the support (albeit with some reservations) of the European trade unions (CES/ETUC) and employers’ associations (Businesseurope, CEEP, EUAPME). On 25 March the EU institutions in fact met the representatives of both sides of industry to discuss the issues on the agenda of the European Council, beginning from the new strategy for growth and employment which will take the place of that defined at Lisbon in 2000. Representing the 27 member states of the EU at the meeting were the EU’s top brass, Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, José Manuel Barroso, head of the Commission, and José Luis Zapatero, representing the current Spanish Presidency of the Council. “The discussion focused on ways of overcoming the crisis – explained Barroso – but medium and long term measures were also examined”, and “ambitious programmes and structural reforms” urged. In this sense “Europe 2020 will bring tangible benefits” to the EU economy and to citizens, by aiming at the realization of “a sustainable, intelligent and inclusive economy”. Investing in youth and research. To return to the plenary session, the European Parliament indicated some priority guidelines to which a response needs to be given through the EU budget for 2011. As regards youth, for example, MEPs ask that investment be stepped up in the study of foreign languages, in the new forms of entrepreneurship and in mobility. The EP then focused on the economic crisis: to facilitate the recovery, the Parliament proposes that greater funds be allocated to research and innovation, “especially in technologies for the defence of the environment”, “together with a larger number of pilot projects for small and medium enterprises in agricultural areas”. The text approved by the Parliament further insists on the need to revise the EU’s six-year financial plan, given that the one now underway (2007-2013) “has not permitted the Union to respond in an adequate or satisfactory way to the various problems that have emerged in recent years”.