Select Committee on European Union Seventh Report

CHAPTER 2: Views of witnesses on the Work Programme

INTRODUCTION

9.  In this Chapter the views of witnesses on the Work Programme are summarised. The written evidence received is published in full with this report.

10.  This Chapter first looks at some general issues and cross-cutting themes. Views on specific policy proposals are then considered, grouped under the broad general headings of the policy areas for which our individual Sub-Committees are responsible. This does not mean, however, that those particular Sub-Committees will in fact scrutinise the formal Commission documents and proposals when they are presented to parliament. The allocation of work to individual Sub-Committees will be a matter for our normal sift process in due course.[3]

OVERALL DIRECTION OF THE WORK PROGRAMME

11.  The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) supported the general direction of the 2007 Work Programme, particularly the emphasis placed on the challenges posed by globalisation. However, the BCC was concerned that the Work Programme lacked substance, and while important issues were highlighted, how these would be addressed remained unclear. Transparency with regard to the criteria applied to items selected for inclusion in the Work Programme, and with regard to the distinction between strategic and priority initiatives, could have been improved (p 1).

12.  The Trades Union Congress (TUC) argued that the EU would benefit from having just one work programme, rather than the two potentially competing agendas of the Commission and the Council Presidencies. There was a need for greater coherence between the Commission's Work Programme and national priorities, although the Commission's decision to inform national parliaments directly of its proposals was welcome particularly if leading to debates and greater coherence (p 28).

13.  The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) welcomed the Work Programme, and the Commission's commitment to producing an improved and more focused programme for 2007 (p 18), while, from Greece, the Committee for European Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament suggested that the Work Programme should contain a report on the state of play of previous Commission initiatives (p 20).

14.  The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) considered the Work Programme successful against the two key criteria of equipping the EU to face current challenges, and addressing the routine business of the Commission. It would, however, like to see more emphasis on the effective implementation of legislation already agreed (p 10).

15.  The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) welcomed the general focus in the Work Programme on social, employment and equality policies, and particularly on migration and integration policies but was concerned at the lack of new policy initiatives in these areas. The Work Programme should be clearer in highlighting the inter-connected nature of many of its policies (p 8).

16.  The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) welcomed many aspects of the Work Programme, especially proposals on emissions trading and reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles (p 26).

17.  Some organisations chose to comment on proposals that they felt should have been included in the Work Programme, and some indicated that more explanation would be welcome about why some proposals outstanding from the 2006 Work Programme were not included in that for 2007, while significant proposals known to be in the pipeline were likewise excluded (pp 1, 19, 27-28).

BETTER REGULATION

18.  The inclusion of simplification proposals in the Work Programme was welcomed by the EPLP, along with the Work Programme's commitment to the use of impact assessments (p 10).

19.  The FSB also welcomed the prominence given in the Work Programme to Better Regulation, although remaining concerned that without an independent audit of impact assessments (of legislative proposals) it would be difficult to maintain their quality. The Commission's proposal for a 25% cut in the burden of regulation by 2012 was supported, and it was suggested that all unresolved legal proposals should be annulled at the end of each European Parliamentary term, in addition to deadlines being set on Parliament and Council for simplifying existing regulations. The Commission would not be able to deliver the benefits of Better Regulation without the co-operation of both the Council and the European Parliament (pp 18-19).

20.  The City of London Corporation welcomed the fact that the Better Regulation agenda was beginning to move from rhetoric to practice with the identification of simplification initiatives and the withdrawal of pending legislation: the policy battle had been won but needed to be delivered. The City also warned that ex-post evaluations of regulatory impact assessments could have the undesired consequence of opening up avenues for EU institutions to revise legislation and demand further, more detailed rules—for example, the review of the Investment Services Directive led to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (p 6).

21.  The BCC was disappointed that the Work Programme did not go further with its list of proposals for simplification. Research conducted by the BCC indicated that 75% of regulatory costs to business since 1998—some £37,814bn—was EU-sourced regulation. The BCC therefore considered that a much more ambitious roadmap was needed for better regulation (p 1).

22.  The TUC, on the other hand, saw no serious evidence that the UK economy was experiencing any difficulties as a result of EU legislation. The reduction of costs for business often implied the shift of those costs to society in general and to citizens and employees. The Better Regulation agenda was therefore supported as long as a distinction was drawn between regulation that required particular procedures to be followed and regulation underpinning policy objectives (p 29).

23.  The Local Government Association (LGA) was supportive of the ongoing work on governance, including securing commitments to better consultation and reducing red tape (p 24). The National Farmers' Union of England and Wales (NFU) also supported the Better Regulation agenda, considering it essential in order to maximise the competitiveness of the EU in general and the agricultural sector in particular (p 25). However, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) criticised the Commission for bringing forward a new batch of proposals whilst certain legislation was still pending in the legislative process (i.e. the broiler chickens proposal adopted in May 2005) (p 28).

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL AFFAIRS, AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE

24.  The City of London Corporation broadly welcomed the Commission's White Paper on Enhancing the Single Market Framework for Investment Funds and its attempts to encourage the opening up of the cross-border funds market. The City also noted the Commission's intention to review the capital requirements for the insurance industry (p 7).

25.  The City also expressed interest in the reviews the Commission would undertake of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (following implementation in 2007). By 2008 the Commission would be deciding on a number of important issues, notably whether or not to extend the directive's provisions on transparency covering the equity markets to the bond, derivatives and commodities markets (p 7).

26.  The LGA highlighted proposals concerning regional and state aids, the Green Paper on urban transport and the EU ports strategy as potentially important to local authorities (p 22).

27.  The FSB expressed its concern that the Commission's Proposal for a Regulation on Enhancing Supply Chain Security, which had not featured in previous Commission work programmes, did not feature in the Commission's programme for 2007 either (p 19).

28.  The NFU recognised the intertwining of the trade and development agenda, and the need for the EU trade agenda to continue to reflect the EU's commitment to development via the granting of special and preferential treatment to developing countries (e.g. negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP countries) (p 26).

29.  The NFU also considered that the preferential trade agreements with countries in the European neighbourhood should reflect the commitment to stability in the region. In preferential trade agreements, EU policies should recognise the distinctive characteristics of the agricultural sector and the complex relation between the multilateral and bilateral/regional trade agenda (p 26).

INTERNAL MARKET ISSUES INCLUDING ENERGY

30.  The BCC noted that any review of the Single Market would have to look in detail at how the Single Market could address the challenges and opportunities presented by an enlarged EU, by globalisation and by technological innovation. The BCC wanted to see how benefits of the Single Market were delivered at the citizen level: this could not be achieved through additional directives, but instead should be achieved by creating the conditions in which business and particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could thrive (pp 1-2).

31.  The FSB argued that the benefits of the Single Market project had not filtered through to the small business community. The FSB would like to see the Commission's Communication deal with the issue of gold-plating, and argued that the Commission should promote the use of "correlation tables"[4] to make the implementation of the EU rules by Member States transparent. The Commission needed to rationalise the bodies and agencies that assisted business to access the Single Market. The Commission's mid-term review of both industrial and modern SME policy should place SMEs at the centre of its initiative to generate employment (pp 18-19).

32.  The LGA noted that local authorities were affected by the Single Market, both positively in terms of achieving lower prices and promoting certain safeguards, but potentially negatively if greater red tape ensued (p 21).

33.  In a paper submitted informally for the Committee's information, Small Business Europe identified the Communication on the Single Market Review as a potentially significant element of the Work Programme.

34.  The BCC supported the Commission's energy policy objectives (sustainability, competitiveness and security of supply) but international co-operation on energy was crucial if those objectives were to be achieved (p 2). The LGA welcomed the EU's focus on energy efficiency, including the proposed energy savings target of a 20% reduction on 2005 levels by 2020. But a longer term approach, well-resourced at the local level, needed to be urgently adopted (p 22).

35.  The TUC regretted the new phase that the Lisbon strategy had entered: the 2005 re-launch of Lisbon had prioritised the pillar of competitiveness over the pillar of social cohesion. According to the TUC, European-level policy was narrowed down to policies that triggered competition and made Member States compete against each other for investment and jobs (pp 28-29). For the LGA, local government was central to the success of the Lisbon strategy because local authorities were so closely involved in many of the areas covered (p 23).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY

36.  In the view of the BCC, a strong international voice for the EU and greater international cooperation on energy was important (p 2). For the EPLP, much had been done by the EU in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian aid in recent years. However, no mention was made in the Work Programme of humanitarian aid, and development cooperation was only considered as an instrument of the Union's external action, as opposed to a policy in its own right. For the EU to succeed in 'connecting' with citizens, international development would have to be given particular attention (pp 13-17).

37.  The EPLP also noted that external priorities were defined exclusively in relation to EU interests: this approach did not take into account the scope of an enlightened approach to, for example, poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals): development was a central goal in itself (pp 14-15).

38.  The EPLP criticised the Commission's apparent intention to downgrade its leading role in international development negotiations, including in the Doha round of trade negotiations, where the only reference to EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreements) was "vague and non-substantive". The EPLP believed that the Work Programme ignored the major divisions between the ACP negotiators and the EC on how to give "tangible expression to the concept of development in an EPA" (p 15).

39.  The EPLP also believed that negotiations on adoption of the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) should lead to a proposal from the Commission for a new set of Communications, each focusing on a geographical area (i.e. as additions to the Work Programme). The 2006 Communications on thematic priorities should be examined to bring them into line with the DCI, citing environmental protection as a key weakness. In addition, a broader and more focused approach was needed to humanitarian aid, in line with the principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) (pp 15-16).

ENVIRONMENT AND AGRICULTURE

40.  The EPLP suggested that preparations for the 2008 CAP Health Check and the 2009 budgetary review should take place in 2007 (p 18).

41.  The NFU welcomed the drive for administrative simplification by moving towards a single Common Market Organisation (merging the 21 different CMOs into one) but this should not be at the expense of consideration of specific issues arising for the different agricultural sectors (p 25).

42.  The NFU also noted that one of the roles of the Commission in 2007 would be the launch of new rural development programmes. The delay resulting from the dissent between the European Parliament and the Commission on the implementation of (voluntary) national modulation was profoundly regretted (p 26).

43.  As far as proposals for green public procurement were concerned, the BCC considered that UK small businesses were already striving to improve their green credentials and would therefore prefer not to see targets set by the Commission. Rather, the Commission should look to increase its advisory role in this area (p 2). Small Business Europe also considered this proposal potentially significant.

44.  The City was very interested in the issue of climate change and emissions trading. The City had published a report in September 2006 looking at the business opportunities offered by emissions trading (p 7). The EPLP emphasises that review of the emissions trading scheme is a key tool in tackling climate change (p 11).

45.  In the view of the LGA, EU climate change policy had, in the past, focused too much on mitigation of climate change, with little effort to assess the impacts and adapt to them: the LGA believe that the Commission's work in 2007 on adaptation would have to deliver on this and bring local government into the process (p 22).

46.  The NFU believes that any effective strategy against climate change needs to recognise the positive contribution that EU agriculture can make in the fight against climate change and its consequences (p 25).

47.  The FSB considered that proposals for the implementation and enforcement of EC environmental legislation could have a significant impact upon its members (p 19). The LGA also considered the dossier to be of great importance: 2007 would see the implementation of several crucial pieces of legislation, including the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, batteries recycling directive and environmental liability directive. Implementation should be carried out in consultation with local government and no additional financial burdens should be placed on local authorities (p 22). Small Business Europe also considered this dossier potentially significant.

48.  The RSPB expressed regret that the Work Programme did not include a permanent ban on the importation of wild birds into the EU for conservation, welfare and health grounds (p 27). (However, since their evidence was submitted, a Regulation has been adopted that will put such a ban in place from 1 July 2007, although with some exemptions.)

49.  The RSPB also regretted that the Work Programme does not include a Community Plan of Action to reduce incidental mortality of seabirds in long-line fisheries, despite several promises to propose such a plan in the past (p 27).

50.  The NFU noted the need to reconcile environmental objectives with the competitiveness agenda when adopting environmental legislation such as the IPPC (Integration Pollution Prevention Control) directive and the review of the NEC (National Emissions Ceiling) directive (p 26).

LAW AND INSTITUTIONS

51.  The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) called for the extension of the 'Community method' (i.e. co-decision and qualified majority voting) to the Justice, Freedom and Security area. The CEPS reflected on the Hague Programme and concluded that it contained more coercive measures than freedom- or justice-based measures. The CEPS also referred to the need for Commission enforcement of Third Pillar legislation (pp 3-5).

HOME AFFAIRS

52.  The CEPS warned against an excessively complex EU regulation of economic migration, as this could foster the irregularity of immigrants' status. EU regulation should address the need to offer a secure legal status to all immigrant workers, not only to the highly skilled, in order to avoid exploitation and discrimination in the area of labour immigration in the EU. On the same line, proposed legislation on penalties for employers of irregular immigrants should be premised on clear legal rules on legality of residence and employment of third country nationals in the EU. The CEPS provides strong support, on the other hand, for EU framework legislation on the rights of immigrants who were legal residents and in legal employment (pp 4-5).

53.  The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) welcomed fair and clear rules for labour migrants in the EU, but the emphasis should be on their rights in order to redress their exploitation and lack of integration. There was a significant gap in the programme in the lack of attention being paid to internal labour migration of EU nationals, particularly the impact of restricted labour market access for the new EU nationals on policies that sought to challenge exploitation and achieve social cohesion (p 9).

54.  According to the CEPS, before proposing measures to further develop the common asylum system, the Commission needed to address the shortcomings of the first-phase instruments adopted, particularly with a view to amending those provisions which were believed to fall below accepted international standards (p 5).

55.  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Representation in the UK), in a comprehensive paper addressed to the German Presidency and sent to the Committee for information[5], also called for an assessment of the adequacy and gaps in the instruments adopted, and to be included as an expert body in the evaluation process. A protective-sensitive border management was needed as part of the EU's response to migration challenges, particularly in cooperation and partnership arrangements with third countries of transit and origin.

SOCIAL AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS

56.  The CRE strongly welcomed the comprehensive stocktaking of European society. It was to be hoped that the final result would act as a catalyst for a fresh approach to how social policy was developed in the EU. The Commission should urge Member States to collect data more rigorously, to follow up the stocktaking with a 'state of the EU' report, and to focus on immigration and migration in the EU. The CRE also expressed concern that the success of the stocktaking could be impaired by an apparent lack of legislative initiatives (pp 8-9).

57.  The BCC wanted to see a "wider" debate on the concept of flexicurity. In the BCC's view, flexibility was key to business success and the flexibility currently enjoyed by UK business should be maintained. Any additional regulation to ensure social protection should be "proportionate" (p 2)). Small Business Europe considered this Communication potentially significant. The LGA noted that the Communication would cover the implications of labour market law on economic development and social inclusion, issues which local authorities were key to delivering (p 21). On the other hand, the TUC had concerns that the Communication would not be used to reform and strengthen Europe's social dimension, but to weaken it (p 29).

58.  Turning to the follow-up to the Green Paper on labour law, the BCC had concerns relating to the flexicurity debate, EU-wide definitions of employment and self-employment and the concept of a "floor of rights" for all workers irrespective of their employment status (p 2). The FSB shared the BCC's concerns regarding definitions of self-employment and regarding the reference to a "floor of rights". The Green Paper asked some very pertinent questions regarding the extent to which existing regulations hindered enterprises and productivity, and the FSB welcomed potential changes to make working time rules more flexible for both employers and employees (p 19). The LGA emphasised that the sub-regional level was the best level for labour market intervention: thus any new labour market rules must reflect a desire to devolve decisions to local partnerships led by Councils (p 21). Small Business Europe considered this proposal potentially significant.

59.  As for the "Health in Europe" strategy, the LGA believed that Councils were the only agencies that could really join up all the services involved to improve health at the local level (p 23). The NFU was particularly interested in the White Paper on nutrition and believed that clearer labelling would be welcome and should focus not only on the nutritional context but also on traceability issues (p 26).

60.  In the field of education, the EPLP appeared to be sceptical about the Erasmus Mundus II proposal, insisting that in terms of development work with third countries on education, special priority should be given to basic (and secondary) education (p 14).

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3   A full account of the Committee's scrutiny procedures can be found in the Annual Report 2006, 46th Report of Session 2005-06, HL Paper 261. Back

4   The term "correlation tables" refers to the form in which Member States present to the European Commission an account of how the text of national provisions transposing a Directive relate to the text of the Directive itself. Back

5   This paper is not printed with this report but will be available for inspection in the Parliamentary Archive. Back