Implementation of Services Directive 2006/123/EC

The EU Commission has reported on the implementation issues and sectors covered by the Services Directive 2006/123/EC, which have the most significant impact or potential in economic terms: business services, construction, real estate, retail and tourism. Internal market in services In the blog post EU performance checks: construction, business services and tourism we looked at the Commission staff working document SWD(2012) 147 regarding these internal market services. [I checked to see, but the blog editor still refuses to accept paragraphs. Sad.]

Migrating from Blogger – temporarily?

When I switched to the new Blogger (Google) profile, something strange happened. First on Eurooppaoikeus, then on Grahnblawg the breaks for new lines (paragraphs) in the article would disappear in the published post. I have tried to signal the problem, but as we see from the previous post here on Grahnlaw, the bug persists. Thus, I see no other option than to migrate to Grahnlaw Suomi Finland for the time being. My three blogs on Blogger remain as an archive with a total of more than 2,700 articles plus feeds with news about EU affairs. Sadly yours, Ralf Grahn

EU growth and prosperity through EU2020?

Loss of competitiveness and export shares in world markets is the slippery road the member states of the European Union have been embarked on, but it is hardly the highway to growth and prosperity. The EU actually has a comprehensive strategy for economic growth, Europe 2020, but how credible is the commitment of the national leaders if they keep forgetting their own EU2020 master plan, at least without prodding? Just before each EU member state submits its National Reform Programme 2012, here are some Grahnlaw blog posts about relevant conclusions and statements concerning a return to growth, competitiveness and the creation of new jobs: European Council and the quest for growth European Council and Single Market: ambitious enough? EUCO challenge: growth despite budget balancing Breathing life into EU2020 necessary for growth, competitiveness and employment EU2020 from failure to action EU leaders: ”Oops, we forgot our strategy” European Council endorsed Annual Growth Survey 2012 priorities Is the Europe 2020 strategy jinxed? Ralf Grahn EU policy expert, speaker and lecturer

Sharpening the axes: EU Council long term budget discussion

What did the discussion about the EU's long term budget offer the public?

Yesterday the General Affairs Council (GAC) publicly debated the long term budget (officially, the multiannual financial framework MFF), which is going to determine the EU's annual budgets 2014-2020.

The MFF is how the EU member states control income and expenditure, despite the much touted new powers of the European Parliament regarding the annual budgets. The EP can only accept or reject the MFF.

Yesterday, the ministers did not discuss the long term budget, but a ”negotiating box” covering four categories of expenditure (known as "headings"): heading 1 “Smart and inclusive growth” (except for cohesion policy and the Connecting Europe Facility), heading 3 “Security and citizenship”, heading 4 “Global Europe” (EU's external action) and heading 5 (administration).

In other words, it was not like the discussion of a house, but of an important section of the blueprint of the building.


Openness

The Council press people have written an article about the GAC meeting and tried to make the MFF negotiating process comprehensible. There are helpful links to web pages concerning the Multiannual Financial Framwork 2014-2020 (and further news, proposals and videos) and the outline of the negotiating box.

The discussion was webcast directly, and those who are interested can watch the recording as an example of Council debate. The recording also serves, if you want to know the main negotiating aims of one or more countries. You can also see the emerging front lines.

When the interventions of the chairman and Commissioners are added to each of the 27 EU member states (plus Croatia) making its main points in three minutes, this ”tour de table” or series of monologues took about two hours and a quarter.

There is also the 30 min video recording of the press conference with the Danish minister Nicolai Wammen, who chaired the meeting, and the commissioners Maroš Šefčovič (inter-institutional relations and administration) and Janusz Lewandowski (financial programming and budget).

Even if this was an 'early stages' discussion, the press conference offers some distilled information and intelligent questions from journalists.

It is not easy to summarise the diverging opinions of the member states, but perhaps for the first time the GAC conclusions look as if someone had made an effort (without naming and shaming individual countries):

3158th Council meeting General Affairs; Brussels, 26 March 2012 (document 8129/12)

Read the conclusions, if you want to know the bones of contention at a general level.


Improvements

The General Affairs Council has been been a real disappointment with regard to openness, governance standards and effectiveness during the first two years of the Lisbon Treaty.

It is therefore worth noting that the quality of advance information (although very late) and the conclusions has improved during the Danish presidency.

As in the case of the eurozone (Eurogroup, Euro Summit), the Council press service has enhanced the quality of presentation lately, although the opaque nature of these coteries remains.


Media

About ten countries want to squeeze the Commission proposals by some EUR100 billion. Here are some media reports.

Eight countries want to scrap the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), which spends about EUR500 million annually, according to the Swedish EU minister Birgitta Ohlsson (Europaportalen.se). No financial transaction tax (FTT) for the EU coffers to reduce the national contributions, according to Ohlsson.

Ten countries asked for macroeconomic conditionality to be extended to all forms of EU expenditure, Europolitics reported in a good summary of the contents of the GAC discussion.

Ahead of the annual budget for 2013, the Commission tells the institutions to limit expenditure (EUobserver). While member states want to cut expenses for administration, the Commission counters with problems to recruit officials from the rich member states or from fields where the private sector offers more for top talent (EUobserver).



Ralf Grahn
speaker and lecturer on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 948 Euroblogs. They represent an integral part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. Regards-citoyens is a highly productive French blog, which mixes own articles and analysis with selected writings from other media and news from the EU institutions.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the crucial challenges of the global era for Europe: growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

The other social media where I am active: Twitter, Facebook ja Google+

Is the Europe 2020 strategy jinxed?

In the article EU action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs I mentioned the information note from the Danish Council presidency:

European Council - Follow-up by the Council; Brussels, 19 March 2012 (document 7824/12)

The content is described on the front page:

In order to ensure that the General Affairs Council can fully play its general coordinating role as well as its specific role in ensuring the follow-up to European Council meetings, the Presidency has prepared the attached information note. The note outlines steps taken in implementation of the orientations agreed by the European Council at its meetings of December 2011 and March 2012, as well as at in the declaration of the Heads of State and Government of 30 January 2012. This note also sets out how these orientations will be taken forward by the Presidency within the Council until the end of the Presidency period, notwithstanding upcoming discussions to be held in Coreper and Council in respect to the orientations set out by the March 2012 European Council, in particular as regards paragraph 16 of its conclusions.

Peer pressure

So what did paragraph 16 of the conclusions of the spring (March) 2012 European Council say? The EUCO conclusions are available in all 23 official EU languages; here the English text, under Economic policy, which highlights some aspects of single market reform and compliance (although the single market has been mentioned in these and other conclusions as well):

16. The European Council considers that enhanced "peer pressure" can help raise the ownership and responsibility at the level of Heads of State or Government as regards the Council's and individual Member States' role in developing the Single Market and complying with its rules. To this effect, the European Council invites :
− the Commission to provide transparent scoreboards as a basis for appropriate benchmarking;
− the President of the European Council to promote regular monitoring by the European Council of progress achieved on key Single Market proposals in the various Council formations.

Follow-up note

The follow-up note deals with the growth agenda, including:

* the single market, Single Market Act,
* acces to finance for SMEs, the COSME programme,
* the forthcoming employment package,
* the reduction of the administrative and regulatory burden,
* innovation and Horizon 2020,
* the digital single market,
* the internal energy market


Under Economic policy, the following themes were among those mentioned:

* the next steps within the European Semester leading to recommendations on the National Reform Programmes and the Stability or Convergence Programmes of the member states as well as the prevention of macroeconomic imbalances revealed by the Alert Mechanism Report,
* the regulation of financial services,
* the two-pack proposals on euro area surveillance,
* the contribution of taxation to fiscal consolidation and growth,
* piloting European project bonds

Additional themes were the long term budget (Multiannual Financial Framework MFF), Justice and Home Affairs (including Schengen enlargement and governance, the Common European Asylum System), Climate (low-carbon 2050 strategy), Trade and Enlargement.


Jinxed Europe 2020?

Only a few weeks ago the spring European Council reminded itself and others that:

2. "Europe 2020" is Europe's strategy for jobs and growth and its comprehensive response to the challenges it is facing. In particular, the five targets set out for 2020 remain fully relevant and will continue to guide the action of Member States and the Union to promote employment; improve the conditions for innovation, research and development; meet our climate change and energy objectives; improve education levels and promote social inclusion in particular through the reduction of poverty.

However, yet again we see a paper from one or more member states skillfully evading the main EU2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, despite dealing with certain concrete aspects of it.

It looks improbable that an EUCO president or EU member state can – in good faith - write an eight-page issues paper or equally long information note [edited] about the EU's growth agenda and economic policy, or the five pages of a twelve-country plan for growth in Europe without mentioning the Europe 2020 strategy.

Is EU2020 jinxed, or what?

Europe 2020 is supposed to be the main uniting economic reform strategy for all levels of government in the European Union and its member states, as the heads of states or government reiterated at the beginning of this month.

Have we ever seen or heard an intelligent explanation from the governments of the EU member states, or have the EU members shown us a diagnosis of amnesia?



General Affairs Council

Monday, 26 March 2012, the coordinating General Affairs Council (GAC) meets to discuss two main items, of which the second one is: Follow-up to the European Council 1-2 March 2012 (agenda).

In this respect, the background note for the GAC meeting offers practically nothing in addition to the presidency note 7824/12:

Follow-up to the [December] European Council

The Council will take stock of the follow-up to be given to the European Council meeting held on 1-2 March, on the basis of a presidency note (7824/12).

The meeting focus[ed] in particular on the growth agenda and on economic policy.

The follow-up discussion is not public, so if the General Affairs Council does not make drastic improvements to its conclusions, the presidency note is probably the best thing the public is left with regarding growth and economic policy for a while.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 944 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. Erkan's Field Diary is more than a Turkish delight. The anthropologist, Dr Erkan Saka follows and links to global, European and Turkish politics and events, not forgetting human rights, cyberculture and social media. Some of the posts are in English. Recommended reading.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my currently active blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the crucial challenges of the global era for Europe: growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EU action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs

The article Access to finance for small businesses – EU Single Market Act brought us to the SMA related Communication from the European Commission:

An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs; Brussels, 7.12.2011 COM(2011) 870 final
(15 pages; available in 22 EU languages)

In a nutshell (page 1):

The Commission is presenting in this Action Plan the various policies that it is pursuing to make access to finance easier for Europe's 23 million SMEs and to provide a significant contribution to growth.

The Action Plan promises regulatory, financial and other measures to improve the access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).


SEC(2011) 1527

The action plan was accompanied by:

Commission staff working paper Accompanying the document An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs; Brussels, 7.12.2011 SEC(2011) 1527 final (13 pages; only in English)

The paper discusses the conditions: SMEs' access to lending, venture capital and equity. It then presents EU financial measures for SMEs 2007-2013, before conveniently listing current and planned actions to improve access to finance.


Next steps

The Danish presidency of the EU Council has prepared a note on the follow-up to the recent meetings of the European Council (summits), including the growth agenda, where issues related to the single market are seen as top priorities:

European Council - Follow-up by the Council; Brussels, 19 March 2012 document 7824/12

Paragraph 3 on page 2 offers the following view:

3. The COMPET Council will report in May, as requested by the members of the European Council at their informal meeting of 30 January 2012, on implementation of measures to be taken at European level for boosting the access to finance for SMEs. In this context he COSME programme will be discussed at the May COMPET Council and work will be taken forward rapidly on the legislative proposal for the creation of a EU-wide venture capital regime (part of the twelve priority levers of the Single Market Act).

Here is some introductory information about the proposed Programme for Competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs (COSME) 2014-2020, with further links for those interested.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 944 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. In addition to its other activities, the economic think tank Bruegel runs the collective quality Bruegel blog, divided into thematic sections. Recommended reading.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the crucial challenges of the global era for Europe: growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

Access to finance for small businesses - EU Single Market Act

In the article Single Market Act COM(2011) 206 we looked at the twelve levers for growth and the key action for each.


Access to finance for SMEs

The first lever in the Single Market Act (SMA) (page 6-7) is Access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). One of the promises was:

SME financing will be the subject of an action plan. It will cover not only access to different financing sources but also SME financing tools directly and the creation of an environment that is conducive to development and growth for SMEs.

SMEs' access to finance

We fast-forward to 7 December 2011, when the DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) published the latest SMEs' Access to Finance Survey 2011: short summary and full analytical report.


Action plan for SME finance

On the same day the Commission published (MEMO/11/879) EU Action Plan: helping SMEs access more financial resources, which offers a quick overview of the proposed actions.

For more detail there is the communication from the Commission:

An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs; Brussels, 7.12.2011 COM(2011) 870 final
(15 pages; available in 22 EU languages), as well as the

Commission staff working paper Accompanying the document An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs; Brussels, 7.12.2011 SEC(2011) 1527 final



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 943 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy EUROPP blog, where Gareth Harding stated that the European Union is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of its citizens, but also handed out advice on how to turn the tide.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the crucial challenges of the global era for Europe: growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

Single Market Act COM(2011) 206

The article Public consultation on EU Single Market Act (SMA) brought us close to the final version of the Commission's reform programme 2011-2012. Archimedes would have been happy to see most of the 22 language versions of the communication employ the concept ”lever” in some form. Heureka!, here is the English version (pdf):

Single Market Act: Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence - "Working together to create new growth”; Brussels, 13.4.2011 COM(2011) 206 final (26 pages)


Single Market Act COM(2011) 206

Here, as a reminder, are the twelve levers, each with a key action (source: Annex 1, page 24-25):


Access to finance for SMEs (4th quarter 2011)

1 Legislation designed to make it easier for venture capital funds established in a Member State to invest freely in any other Member State, without obstacles or additional requirements

Mobility for citizens (4th quarter 2011)

2 Legislation modernising the system for recognising professional qualifications

Intellectual property rights (2nd quarter 2011)

3 Legislation setting up a unitary patent protection for the greatest possible number of Member States and a unified patent litigation system with the objective of issuing the first EU patents in 2013

Consumer empowerment (4th quarter 2011)

4 Legislation on Alternative Dispute Resolution. This action will also include an electronic commerce dimension.

Services (2nd quarter 2011)

5 Revision of the legislation on the European standardisation system, to extend it to services and make standardisation procedures more effective, efficient and inclusive

Networks (4th quarter 2011, 3rd quarter 2011)

6 Energy and transport infrastructure legislation serving to identify and roll out strategic projects of European interest and to ensure interoperability and intermodality

Digital single market (1st quarter 2012)

7 Legislation ensuring the mutual recognition of electronic identification and authentication across the EU and revision of the Directive on Electronic Signatures

Social entrepreneurship (4th quarter 2011)

8 Legislation setting up a European framework for social investment funds

Taxation (2nd quarter 2011)

9 Review of the Energy Tax Directive in order to ensure consistent treatment of different sources of energy, so as to better take into account the energy content of products and their CO2 emission level

Social cohesion (4th quarter 2011)

10 Legislation aimed at improving and reinforcing the transposition, implementation and enforcement in practice of the Posting of Workers Directive, together with legislation aimed at clarifying the exercise of the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services alongside fundamental social rights

Business environment (2nd quarter 2011)

11 Simplification of the Accounting Directives

Public procurement (4th quarter 2011)

12 Revised and modernised public procurement legislative framework

Success criteria

The Commission saw four conditions as necessary for the success of the single market programme (page 20):

For the proposed actions to produce the effects expected in terms of growth and jobs, the conditions for their development and efficient implementation must be met. There are four such conditions: (1) a better dialogue with civil society as a whole; (2) a close partnership with the various market participants; (3) efficient provision of information for citizens and enterprises; and (4) closer monitoring of the application of single-market legislation.

Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 941 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy EUROPP blog, where Ronny Patz recently wrote about the EU blogosphere and called for more specialists and academics to widen the debate closer to real life.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EU trade ministers communicating ACTA

The trade ministers met in the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) 16 March 2012 (agenda). According to the background note:

Under “any other business” the Council will be briefed on the situation regarding the signature and ratification of the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) between the EU and Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

ACTA is aimed at establishing an international framework for improving the enforcement of intellectual property right laws and creating improved international standards for actions against large-scale infringements of intellectual property. Negotiations were concluded in November 2010.

We know that few issues have engaged as many EU citizens as intensely as the anti-piracy treaty ACTA, so we want to share with the public what Mr Didier REYNDERS, Mr Ivo MARINOV, Mr Martin TLAPA, Ms Pia Olsen DYHR, Ms Anne Ruth HERKES, Mr Matti MAASIKAS, Mr Rory MONTGOMERY, Mr Ioannis DRIMOUSSIS, Mr Konstantinos PAPADOPOULOS, Mr Jaime GARCÍA-LEGAZ PONCE, Mr Pierre LELLOUCHE, Mr Ferdinando NELLI FEROCI, Ms Praxoula ANTONIADOU-KYRIACOU, Mr Daniels PAVĻUTS, Mr Egidijus MEILŪNAS, Mr Christian BRAUN, Mr Péter GYÖRKÖS, Mr Tonio FENECH, Mr Henk BLEKER, Mr Walter GRAHAMMER, Mr. Andrzej DYCHA, Mr Miguel MORAIS LEITÃO, Mr Mihnea MOTOC, Mr Rado GENORIO, Mr Peter JAVORČÍK, Mr Jan STORE, Ms Ewa BJÖRLING and Mr Norman LAMB were able to come up with together with the commissioner, Mr Karel DE GUCHT, in order to enlighten the people:

The Council took stock of the situation regarding the signature and ratification of the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) between the EU and Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

ACTA establishes an international framework for improving the enforcement of intellectual property right laws and creating improved international standards for actions against large-scale infringements of intellectual property. Negotiations were concluded in November 2010 and the agreement was signed by the EU and 22 member states in Tokyo on 26 January 2012.

On 22 February, the Commission decided to refer ACTA to the Court of Justice to verify its compatibility with the EU treaties and in particular with the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Quite enlightening!



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 941 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy EUROPP blog, where Ronny Patz recently wrote about the EU blogosphere and called for more specialists and academics to widen the debate closer to real life.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EU recommendation on smart metering systems

If we go to the EU Commission web page Energy > Internal market > Smart grids, we find the following enthusiastic text announcing new regulation:

9 March 2012

Preparations for the roll-out of smart metering systems

Commission paves the way for massive roll-out of smart metering systems. When consumers can follow their energy consumption in real time they can better control their energy bills. Smart metering systems will make this possible. Today only 10% of EU households have some sort of smart meter installed. Where economically worthwhile, 80% of all electricity meters in the EU have to be replaced by smart meters by 2020. To facilitate the take-up of this new technology the European Commission has published today a Recommendation to prepare the roll-out of smart-metering systems. It provides step-by-step guidelines for Member States on how to conduct cost-benefit analysis by 3 September 2012. It also sets common minimum functionalities of smart metering systems and addresses data protection and security issues.

Background information is also offered on the web page of the Digital Agenda for Europe: Action 73: Member States to agree common additional functionalities for smart meters Member States to agree by the end of 2011 on common additional functionalities for smart meters (advanced measuring devices, usually for electricity).


Official publication

The recommendation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union:

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION 2012/148/EU of 9 March 2012 on preparations for the roll-out of smart metering systems; OJEU 13.3.2012 L 73/9

The Commission recommendation deals with different issues in the separate sections:


I. DATA PROTECTION AND SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

1. This section provides guidance to Member States on the design and operation of smart grids and smart metering systems ensuring the fundamental right to protection of personal data.

2. This section also provides guidance on measures to be taken for the deployment of smart metering applications in order to ensure that national legislation implementing Directive 95/46/EC is, where applicable, respected when such technologies are deployed.


II. METHODOLOGY FOR THE ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF THE LONG-TERM COSTS AND BENEFITS FOR THE ROLL-OUT OF SMART METERING SYSTEMS

30. This section provides guidance to Member States along with a framework for cost-benefit analysis as a foundation for conducting a consistent, credible and transparent economic assessment of the long-term costs and benefits of the roll-out of smart metering.


III. COMMON MINIMUM FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SMART METERING SYSTEMS FOR ELECTRICITY

39. This section is based on best practice from early CBAs for smart metering of electricity carried out in 11 Member States. It provides guidance on measures to be taken to ensure that Member States make due use of appropriate interoperability and standards for smart metering systems currently being developed under Mandates M/441, M/468 and M/490 and of best practice.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. Already multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) blog, where Ronny Patz recently wrote about the EU blogosphere and called for more academics to spread the word about their research and to discuss their findings closer to real life.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, but increasingly about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making, including issues at policy level.

Public consultation on EU Single Market Act (SMA)

In the article EU Towards a Single Market Act we looked at the basic choices of the communication 27.10.2010 COM(2010) 608 and the fifty proposals it sketched.


Public consultation

A number of events were organised during the consultation period, often with the commissioner Michel Barnier.

The results of the consultation on the Single Market Act (SMA) have been published, including an undated first overview of the 840 responses submitted in all, both online responses to the query and position papers (8 pages). The brief overview highlights priorities among different groups of respondents.


SEC(2011) 467

More information is offered by the Commission staff working paper:

Overview of responses to the public consultation on the Communication ‘Towards a Single Market Act'; Brussels, 13.4.2011 SEC(2011) 467 final (32 pages; published only in English)

The numbers are crunched with regard to the responses using the online consultation tool, but the separate position papers where included in the qualitative assessments.

In principle, the more detailed assessment follows the structure of the first overview, by looking at the responses from the different respondent groups and their varying priorities.


50 proposed SMA actions

As a quick reminder of the proposals outlined in the communication Towards a Single Market Act, the overview of the consultation responses offers an annex (pages 31-32) where the actions are listed in short form.

ANNEX: THE 50 PROPOSED ACTIONS OF THE SINGLE MARKET ACT

1. EU patent
2. Copyright
3. Counterfeiting and piracy
4. Internal market for services
5. Electronic commerce
6. Standardisation
7. Integrated transport system
8. Energy taxation
9. Business-to-business services
10. Ecological footprint of products
11. Energy efficiency
12. SME access to finance
13. Small Business Act review
14. Accounting rules
15. Project bonds
16. Private investment and venture capital
17. Public procurement
18. Services concessions
19. Common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB)
20. VAT
21. Interconnection of business registers
22. E-identification/authentication
23. International trade
24. International public procurement
25. Services of general economic interest (SGEI)
26. Transport infrastructures
27. Energy infrastructures
28. European radiospectrum
29. Respect for fundamental social rights and social impact analysis of legislation
30. Posting of workers to other Member States
31. Pensions
32. Industrial restructuring
33. Recognition of professional qualifications
34. Student mobility
35. Recognising skills and training
36. Social business
37. Social innovation
38. Corporate governance
39. Product safety
40. Access to basic banking services
41. Responsible lending and borrowing
42. Tax obstacles for citizens
43. Passenger rights
44. Evaluating implementation of rules with Member States
45. Information exchange between public authorities (IMI)
46. Alternative dispute resolution and collective redress
47. National transposition of EU rules
48. Consultation and dialogue with civil society
49. One-stop-stop for information and assistance
50. Informal problem-solving tools

***

Our next destination, I think, should be the final Single Market Act (SMA).



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. Already multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) blog, where Ronny Patz recently wrote about the EU blogosphere and called for more academics to spread the word about their research and to discuss their findings closer to real life.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, but increasingly about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making, issues at policy level.

EU transparency and democracy: From bad to worse

Here I am speaking about how transparency and democracy in the European Union (eurozone) have been going from bad to worse. On YouTube.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs


P.S. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs, which represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, across national and linguistic borders. Among them you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). Besides democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, I increasingly write and speak about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EU Towards a Single Market Act

After looking at Your Single Market? and other introductory material, we turn to the communication (available in 22 languages) prepared under the responsibility of the internal market commissioner Michel Barnier. The English language version of the consultation paper:

Towards a Single Market Act: For a highly competitive social market economy - 50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another; Brussels, 27.10.2010 COM(2010) 608 final (45 pages)


Social market economy

The Lisbon Treaty defines the EU aim of a ”highly competitive social market economy” and the Monti report wanted to broaden the support for a relaunch of the single market, so it is hardly surprising that the Commission's discussion paper is presented as (page 3):

This is a social market economy approach, based on the assumption that a single market needs to enjoy the support of all market players: businesses, consumers and workers. In this way, the single market will allow Europe to become collectively competitive.

Single Market and EU2020

The internal market (single market) did not become an integral part of the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020), nor was it labeled as a flagship initiative. So how does the communication deal with the relationship between the Single Market Act under construction and the EU2020 strategy? The page 4 fudge:

The relaunch of the single market is therefore an essential element of the EU 2020 strategy, which proposes seven flagship initiatives: (i) an innovation Union, (ii) youth on the move, (iii) a digital agenda for Europe, (iv) a resource-efficient Europe, (v) an industrial policy for the globalisation era, (vi) an agenda for new skills and jobs and (vii) a European platform to tackle poverty. An up-to-date single market is the common foundation of all these structures. It is the tool that will help them create growth and employment and in so doing give new impetus to intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth, thereby increasing synergies between the various flagship initiatives. Certain elements of the flagship initiatives will help to structure the operation of the single market and are therefore measures for its relaunch. These measures are therefore included both in this Communication and the flagship initiatives, in particular the digital agenda for Europe, the Union of innovation and an industrial policy for the globalisation era.

Public consultation

The Commission announced a consultation period of four months, asking for contributions by 28 February 2011 (page 35). This would then lead to the next step, the definitive Single Market Act (SMA):

After this public debate, and based on the conclusions drawn from it, the Commission hopes that all of the European institutions will undertake, at the start of 2011, to make this Act and its 50 measures into the definitive policy action plan for 2011-2012. This will serve as a dynamic commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the single market at the end of 2012.

For the convenience of readers, the proposals sketched in the text are also listed at the end for a quick overview (pages 37-45).


EEA relevance

Naturally, the 50 individual proposals presented in the communication are of interest not only to the citizens and enterprises in the European Union, but to the rest of the European Economic Area (EEA) as well, 30 countries in all, with a total population of about 507 million.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs, which represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, across national and linguistic borders. Among them you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). Besides democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, I increasingly write and speak about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EU: Your Single Market?

Mario Monti (Wikipedia) did not serve European integration only as the commissioner for the internal market and later competition. Recently he participated in the reflection group chaired by Felipe González, which produced the report: Project Europe 2030 – Challenges and opportunities. In parallel Monti prepared a report of his own, commissioned by José Manuel Barroso: A new strategy for the Single Market – At the service of Europe's economy and society.


Towards a Single Market Act

On the basis of the Monti report the European Commission, where Michel Barnier is responsible for the internal market and services, prepared a consultation paper. The communication is available in 22 languages; in English:

Towards a Single Market Act: For a highly competitive social market economy - 50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another; Brussels, 27.10.2010 COM(2010) 608 final (45 pages)


Your Single Market?

If you want a quick introduction, you can read the 27 October 2010 press release (IP/10/1390) and the background information in Single Market Act – Frequently Asked Question(s) (MEMO/10/528).

With Your Single Market?, a 40-page booklet aimed at a wide public, the Commission presented some of the planned reforms and tried to get citizens (consumers, workers and professionals) as well as small and medium-sized enterprises on board.

The proposed actions outlined for the coming Single Market Act (SMA) fell into three groups:

* How to re-launch strong, sustainable and equitable growth
* How to put citizens at the heart of the single market.
* How to foster better governance and dialogue in the single market.

Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs, which represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, across national and linguistic borders. Contributing is my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). Besides democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, I increasingly write and speak about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

European Council endorsed Annual Growth Survey 2012 priorities

The European Semester was kicked off by the Annual Growth Survey 2012 (AGS) Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final VOL. 1/5 (and the four annexes, Volumes 2-5).


EUCO conclusions

The conclusions of the spring European Council (EUCO) were brief and general in the fourth cornerstone paragraph:

4. For 2012, the European Council endorses the five priorities set out in the Commission's Annual Growth Survey for action taken at the EU and national level to:

– pursue differentiated, growth-friendly, fiscal consolidation,
– restore normal lending to the economy,
– promote growth and competitiveness,
– tackle unemployment and the social consequences of the crisis, and
– modernise public administration.

Synthesis report

When the European Council conclusions endorse the priorities proposed by the Commission, there is - if not a whole mountain - at least a molehill of views and conclusions behind each paragraph to inspire more detailed future policy work.

The Danish presidency prepared a shortcut: Implementation of the European Semester - Synthesis report (22 February 2012, Council document 6662/12).

However, the Synthesis report did not offer links to the various documents. Some readers may need to revisit the original and more detailed contributions submitted to the spring European Council, in order to find out what the five priorities set out in the Commission's Annual Growth Survey (AGS) and its annexes actually mean and require in the form of action.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

EU leaders: ”Oops, we forgot our strategy”

In its conclusions, the European Council suddenly remembered that it already has a comprehensive strategy for growth, competitiveness and employment: Europe 2020 (EU2020). The heads of state or government need to breathe life into their common strategy, because they frankly admit that their efforts to date are insufficient.


Amnesia

I strongly recommend president Herman Van Rompuy's strategic and elegant Issues Paper, written ahead of the spring European Council, but for some inexplicable reason he evaded the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020).

The twelve prime ministers who wrote A plan for growth in Europe, calling for more resolute reform policies, as resolutely forgot to mention that the EU already has the EU2020 strategy.


EU2020 resurrected

It took the reply from Commission president José Manuel Barroso to remind these leaders of the existing strategy for this decade:

We have agreed on an ambitious and comprehensive growth and jobs strategy: Europe 2020. Our common ownership of it needs to be more visible to our citizens. They need to know that the EU has a clear strategy for building a better future and that all Member States are working in the same direction. There should be no artificial separation between EU and national growth policies, they reinforce each other.

The conclusions of the European Council (EUCO 4/12) then turned into a strong reminder of the crucial role of the Europe 2020 strategy and of the need to step up efforts significantly:

2. "Europe 2020" is Europe's strategy for jobs and growth and its comprehensive response to the challenges it is facing. In particular, the five targets set out for 2020 remain fully relevant and will continue to guide the action of Member States and the Union to promote employment; improve the conditions for innovation, research and development; meet our climate change and energy objectives; improve education levels and promote social inclusion in particular through the reduction of poverty.

3. However, efforts undertaken to date remain insufficient to meet most of these targets. It is therefore urgent to concentrate on the implementation of reforms, with a particular attention to measures which have a short-term effect on jobs and growth.

Much better. But why did it happen? How credible does the commitment look, when all these reform-minded leaders were happy to forget even the existence of EU2020, their common strategy for a decade of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth?

Will they still remember, having returned home?

Our reading tip for them and their officials is: Progress Report on the Europe 2020 Strategy COM(2011) 815 Annex I.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

EU2020 from failure to action

The heads of state or government reminded themselves of the comprehensive Europe 2020 growth strategy. In the European Council 1-2 March 2012 conclusions (EUCO 4/12, available in 23 languages) they assessed their own work to date:

3. However, efforts undertaken to date remain insufficient to meet most of these targets. It is therefore urgent to concentrate on the implementation of reforms, with a particular attention to measures which have a short-term effect on jobs and growth.

Insufficient reforms

The EU member states are lagging. Brownie points for honesty, although nothing more than the European Commission said in its second Annual Growth Survey 2012 (AGS), which kicked off the European Semester:

Annual Growth Survey 2012 VOL. 1/5; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (18 pages) 

Progress report on the Europe 2020 strategy VOL. 2/5 - ANNEX I; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (27 pages) 

Macro-economic report VOL. 3/5 - ANNEX II; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (21 pages) 

Draft joint employment report VOL. 4/5 - ANNEX III; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (16 pages) 

Growth-friendly tax policies in member states and better tax coordination in the EU VOL. 5/5 - ANNEX IV; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (13 pages) 

For those who think that the Commission is evil and biased, even the more recent (22 February 2012) synthesis report on the implementation of the European Semester (Council document 6662/12), prepared by the Danish Council presidency, is relatively open about less than brilliant progress (page 3):

The Annual Growth Survey shows that progress has been made in a number of areas, but much remains to be done.

In particular, measures announced or adopted during 2011 must now be implemented rigorously in all Member States. The economic climate makes this difficult, but should be seen as an incentive to further focus efforts, both at the national and the European level.

Returning to growth

Both the Annual Growth Survey 2012 and the Council synthesis report contained advice on further action. Let us here quote key points the Danish report made (pages 3-4):

Commitments regarding the objectives on poverty, education, innovation and green growth, in particular, should not be set aside while not endangering rigorous fiscal consolidation.

- Fiscal consolidation efforts have been undertaken by almost all Member States but further efforts appear necessary and, in several countries, medium-term budgetary frameworks remain to be strengthened. Ad hoc measures regarding VAT systems taken by some Member States have yet to produce results. There has only been limited progress across Europe as regards the shift of taxation away from labour. The coherence of the measures taken and their impact on growth and fiscal consolidation also remain to be analysed.

- Efforts to increase competitiveness are still needed, in particular, to increase competition in the retail, service and infrastructures sector. While the transposition of the Services Directive in Member States is progressing, more support needs to give to enhancing crossborder labour mobility including by revision of the EU rules on mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

- Improving the environment in which businesses, including SMEs, operate is important, in particular the reduction of unjustified administrative and regulatory burdens.

- Promoting employment is a key policy objective in all Member States. Nevertheless, in many countries, more could be done in terms of active labour market policies and to combat labour market segmentation and excessively rigid employment protection legislation, reform unemployment benefit systems to make work pay and enhance employability of vulnerable groups. Youth unemployment remains of critical concern. Progress on the inclusion of young people in the labour market is still insufficient in several countries.

- Dual training and other reforms are under way in education systems, but investment in education and training is affected by fiscal constraints in a number of Member States. Ensuring quality of public spending in these areas is a particular priority.

- Pension system reforms have been undertaken in some Member States and are under way in a number of others, but their impact is often hampered by early retirement opportunities and special schemes that are still in place.

- The number of people at risk of poverty is on the rise, and has not been effectively addressed. More focus on increasing labour market participation of vulnerable groups could help address this concern. Some countries still have to take action to address the interrelated issues of household indebtedness and housing markets.

Naturally, the countries with the greatest problems are the ones to need the fastest and most dramatic reform, although their past record is the least promising. However, given the sorry state of the economy in almost all of the EU member states, the need for structural reform in the European Union as a whole is profound.

The national leaders have spoken wisely. Now they must act.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

Breathing life into EU2020 necessary for growth, competitiveness and employment

After the European Council (EUCO) summary we noted a few key points in the intergovernmental Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union (TSCG, ”fiscal compact”) before discussing that the national leaders condemned themselves to achieve economic growth, enhanced competitiveness and new jobs within tighter budget limits, practically without money.

With growth stalling, Europe's competitiveness seriously eroded and unemployment rising, more than cheerful rhetoric is going to be needed to turn the tide.

What do the heads of state or government propose to do?

We turn to the three remaining cornerstones in European Council 1-2 March 2012 conclusions (EUCO 4/12, available in 23 languages) to take a look at this Houdini act.


Europe 2020

The political leaders remind themselves and others that the European Union has a comprehensive long term strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, Europe 2020 (EU2020):

2. "Europe 2020" is Europe's strategy for jobs and growth and its comprehensive response to the challenges it is facing. In particular, the five targets set out for 2020 remain fully relevant and will continue to guide the action of Member States and the Union to promote employment; improve the conditions for innovation, research and development; meet our climate change and energy objectives; improve education levels and promote social inclusion in particular through the reduction of poverty.

Europe 2020 involves the member state in reform work at EU level with regard to the seven flagship initiatives. The institutions of the European Union and the governments of the member states have jointly agreed on common EU2020 targets. Many of the concrete structural, growth-enhancing reforms need to be carried out in and by the EU member states, by state, regional and local actors, social partners and enterprises. The structural reforms at EU and national level are intended to create synergy effects. The five headline targets have been translated into national targets, which take account of the different situations.

By mid-April (the end of April, at the latest) each EU member state sets out its actions in its national reform programme 2012 (NRP). The European Commission analyses every NRP, as well as the stability or convergence programme of every member state, and issues recommendations.

In the summer, the European Council and the Council (of ministers) are going to conclude the planning circle known as the European Semester by addressing recommendations to all the member states.


Divine inspiration?

There are worrying signs that Europe is sliding more than rising. The loss of international competitiveness and export shares in world markets are root causes of this decline, almost across the board.

Difficult but decisive reforms are needed, but rarely do we see signs of lively national debates centred on the Europe 2020 as a dynamic key to reform policies. Preparing mandatory programmes in the recesses of national ministries of economy, perhaps concerting with the main social partners, leads to paper programmes devoid of life.

The heads of state or government have given themselves a reminder of EU2020, but having returned home from the spring European Council, they have to breathe life into the Europe 2020 strategy process domestically.

They failed during the Lisbon strategy decade, and their EU2020 start has been disappointing, with the results we can see around us.

Especially in the member states lagging behind, divine inspiration looks necessary, but failing that the prime ministers and presidents have to make the Europe 2020 strategy a success in their own countries.

The Europe 2020 reforms concern almost all ministries and levels of government and the social partners, but also individual businesses and citizens. The media need to be woken up, if they don't notice themselves.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

EUCO challenge: growth despite budget balancing

We already looked at the summary offered by the European Council. Since I enjoy the luxury of being able to blog about yesterday's news, I'll try to discuss what EUCO said about economic growth, competitiveness and jobs.

The conclusions of the European Council are available in all 23 official EU languages: in English: European Council 1/2 March 2012 (EUCO 4/12).

After the clear summary, the conclusions start with part I. Economic policy (paragraphs 1-24) and II. International summits (paragraphs 25-28).

Since our leaders do not want to ”burden” us with helpful links or references to the relevant documents, the process of reading becomes slow, even if we only want to hint at the existing official positions.


Stability and consolidation

The first paragraph lays the foundation. I understand financial stability as both a banking sector in working order and as tolerable borrowing costs for governments and enterprises. Fiscal consolidation means smaller budget deficits:

1. The European Union is taking all necessary measures to put Europe back on the path to growth and jobs. This requires a two-pronged approach, covering both measures to ensure financial stability and fiscal consolidation and action to foster growth, competitiveness and employment.

We enter a politically charged area. If deficits are cut, the hovercraft sinks to the ground. It lands on those who have received money from public coffers in some form, including the poor, which in turn slows the rest of the economy.

It may be socially understandable and politically tempting to protest, but do the protestors have real alternatives?

I would like to think there are, but I am afraid I do not see much possibilities this time around.

Between October 2008 and December 2010 the EU member states poured 10.5% of GDP as aid into the financial sector, but problems remain in the banking sector.

Many of the EU governments have no money to spare, and their borrowing is prohibitively expensive.


Alert Mechanism Report (AMR)

Naturally, some can dismiss the EU Commission is part of the same conspiracy as I am, but take the time to read the first Alert Mechanism Report 14.2.2012 COM(2012) 68, which offers a broader view of macroeconomic imbalances than mere budget deficits. (The AMR is available in 22 languages.)


Right or wrong?

Although the first report of its kind, I find the AMR ”family portrait” disturbing as well as essentially convincing, against the background of a clear loss of competitiveness and exports for the EU as a whole.

If we return to the pub discussion level, I would not expect a majority of the EUCO members to be ideologically driven enough to want to slash budgets and gain impopularity just for the fun of it.

At the same time, they have made their own game harder: regaining competitiveness and returning to economic growth, despite efforts to diminish public deficits.

Cold comfort for the jobless, but in my humble opinion, EUCO has made the right basic choice.

What can be done in these circumstances?



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

EUCO: Fiscal compact TSCG

The fiscal compact, officially the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union (TSCG), was signed yesterday by 25 of the 27 governments of the EU member states. Only the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom chose to exclude themselves at this stage.

The TSCG text is available in the 22 authentic treaty languages (Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish).


A common concern

The recital reminds us of the obligation of all member states of the European Union to regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern. This obligation was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed twenty years ago.

Recently, the failure of the states to adhere to and to enforce this obligation has turned it into a grave concern, common to all EU citizens (and beyond).

The TSCG still builds on the principle of national economic policies, which need to be coordinated intergovernmentally, although it purports to shrink the straitjacket.


Treaty law and enhanced cooperation

The aim of the signatories is to incorporate the substance of the TSCG into the legal framework
of the European Union within five years (Article 16). According to Article 10, enhanced cooperation is seen as an option.

This intergovernmental treaty, close to but outside the institutional framework of the European Union, went through six different drafts, which were not officially made public. However, the draft texts were leaked to selected media. Even if selective leaks violate the principle of equality between EU citizens, openness was served.


Ratification

According to Article 14(2) and (3), the TSCG needs to be ratified by at least twelve euro area member states to enter into force among them.

The meaning is twofold. The final number of ratifying states may be less than 25. For constitutional reasons Ireland is going to call yet another national referendum. Other countries may stumble when they try to transpose the changes into national law, although aid from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will become conditional upon the ratification of the TSCG.

On the other hand, a few dropouts won't spoil the party for the masochists.


Euro Summit

The provisions on governance (Euro Summit) apply to all parties from the original entry into force. See Article 14(4). The TSCG legalises the recent practice of euro summits, which have eclipsed the Eurogroup, which meets informally but is mentioned in an EU Treaty protocol.


Political alignment

For the non-euro countries, the TSCG is mainly a symbol of political alignment, since they undertake no concrete obligations, if they do not expressly undertake obligations. See Article 14(5). However, according to Article 12(3) they are granted limited participation rights in the Euro Summit.

The TSCG as a whole applies to the eurozone countries, although only a part of the provisions are real additions to the euro area acquis.

The signing of the TSCG took care of the ”austerity” part at the European Council 1-2 March 2012, so the main part of the EUCO meeting could – for a change – be devoted to economic growth, competitiveness and jobs.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

Breaking news!!! ”Van Rompuy bites dog!!!”

At this moment the home page of the European Council is all about the spring EUCO meeting 1 to 2 March 2012, with further pages dedicated to the re-election of president Herman Van Rompuy, the first day of the spring European Council, the euro area leaders on Greece, the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance (TSCG aka the fiscal compact) signed, and day two of the EUCO meeting summed up.

These summaries have links to documents, speeches and webcasts, so technically the communication effort was handled neatly. Under Meetings, I would prefer for the conclusions and the euro statement to link to the page with all the available language versions regardless of the language the visitor happens to use. The link to the TSCG offers an example.


EUCO summary

For the reader pressed for time, the EUCO conclusions begin with a summary of the results:

The European Council discussed the implementation of the EU's economic strategy. This strategy pursues both continued fiscal consolidation and determined action to boost growth and jobs; sustainable growth and jobs cannot be built on deficits and excessive debt levels. The measures taken to stabilize the situation in the euro area are bearing fruit.

The European Council endorsed the five priorities for 2012 set out in the Commission's Annual Growth Survey. It looked at action that has to be taken at national level. Member States must make faster progress towards the targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy and step up efforts on the reforms taken up in the 2011 Country-Specific Recommendations. They are expected to indicate the measures they intend to take to that effect in their National Reform Programmes and their Stability or Convergence Programmes. The European Council also discussed action required at the EU level, pushing ahead with completing the Single Market in all its aspects, both internal and external, and boosting innovation and research.

In the margins of the European Council the participating Member States signed the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the EMU.

The European Council set the EU's priorities for the forthcoming G20 meeting and UN Rio+20 Conference, with a particular emphasis on growth-enhancing measures and reforms. It took stock of developments concerning the Arab Spring and set guidance for future EU action to support that process.

The European Council granted candidate status to Serbia.

It agreed that the Council should revert to the issue of Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the Schengen area in order to adopt its decision in September.

Finally, the European Council re-elected Herman Van Rompuy as its President.

Herman Van Rompuy

One of the concrete decisions was the reappointment (formally election) of the EUCO president for two and a half years.

I already noted that president Herman Van Rompuy promised no real change for EU citizens during his second term, during which he will chair the Euro Summit as well. (A post in Swedish on Grahnblawg too about this election of a sole candidate.)

In addition to the draft conclusions (not formally published) and press conference videos, Van Rompuy left a number of speeches and statements as reading for journalists and aficionados of EU politics: his acceptance speech, his statement after the first session of the European Council with the letter S in prominence, his speech at the signing of the of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination
and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG) by 25 of the 27 EU member states, and his positive end note at the conclusion of the summit, even risking a joke about his own (s)election (in French).


Van Rompuy bites dog?

Those who cry out for boldness and charisma are probably driven to despair before Van Rompuy opens his mouth, and they possibly fall asleep before hearing a word.

If ”Man bites dog” encapsulates news, there is little front page headline material to wring out of these addresses.

The structure is clear and the style restrained. In a low key they put chosen policies in perspective and explain the choices made. Their lack of hyperbole makes them more credible than many EU proclamations of yore. The messages seem to be the kind of gentle prodding national leaders want, or at least tolerate.

Are Van Rompuy's interventions and work effective? Can the outcomes be judged now or later?



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law


P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

European Council and Euro Summit: Van Rompuy promises more of the same

Habemus what? White smoke rose from the Justus Lipsius building. Without a black ball, both a cabal of 27 and a coterie of 17 political leaders in Europe made it clear that they want more of the same.

Late and almost imperceptibly the selection of Herman Van Rompuy to chair the Euro Summit coterie and the European Council for the next two and a half years had been introduced into the meagre advance information from EUCO to the public.

The selection of Van Rompuy to chair both clubs from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014 has now been confirmed.

In his acceptance speech Van Rompuy reminded his backers that ”our duty is to preserve the trust of the citizens in the Union”.

It would have been even better, if he had remembered that we are citizens of the European Union (even if we still lack full political rights).

Can we hope for better governance and more openness? Van Rompuy's thank-you address seems to dash any hope of improvement: ”In my second mandate, I intend to remain true to my style and working methods.”

Despite this, Van Rompuys audaciously speaks about winning over the hearts and minds of the Europeans.

How about democratic reform of the European Union and its institutions? For Van Rompuy democracy becomes a value worth effort right beyond the external border of the EU:

Without exaggerating the means at our disposal, we must act united whenever our interests and our values -- in particular democratic values -- are at stake, in the first place in our neighbourhood. This is where our credibility starts.

In addition, president Van Rompuy reported about the discussions at the first EUCO session. True to his style and working methods, he still did not share the paper he had circulated to the heads of state or government on how to revive growth and employment.

Update 7 March 2012: Through Twitter the Council press office yesterday made an Issues Paper (29 February 2012) available to the public.

Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. With a sometimes tenuous hold on democracy, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (ranked fourth among politcal blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

European Council and Single Market: ambitious enough?

Ahead of the spring European Council, the joint letter from the twelve prime ministers David Cameron (United Kingdom), Mark Rutte (Netherlands), Mario Monti (Italy), Andrus Ansip (Estonia), Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia), Jyrki Katainen (Finland), Enda Kenny (Ireland), Petr Nečas (Czech Republic), Iveta Radičová (Slovakia), Mariano Rajoy (Spain), Fredrik Reinfeldt (Sweden) and Donald Tusk (Poland) to the president of the European Council (EUCO) Herman van Rompuy and the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso was titled A plan for growth in Europe.

This means that fifteen EU member states, among them France and Germany, did not participate in this call for growth policies.


Single Market reform

At the top of the wish list of the dozen premiers came an improved Single Market:

First, we must bring the single market to its next stage of development, by reinforcing governance and raising standards of implementation. The Commission’s report to the June European Council should set out clear and detailed actions needed to enhance implementation and strengthen enforcement.

Action should start in the services sector. Services now account for almost four fifths of our economy and yet there is much that needs to be done to open up services markets on the scale that is needed. We must act with urgency, nationally and at the European level, to remove the restrictions that hinder access and competition and to raise standards of implementation and enforcement to achieve mutual recognition across the single market. We look forward to the Commission report on the outcome of sectoral performance checks and call on the Commission to fulfil its obligation under the services directive to report comprehensively on efforts to open up services markets and to make recommendations for additional measures, if necessary in legislation, to fulfil the internal market in services.

Barroso reply

In the Annex to the Barroso reply we find the following list of ongoing or forthcoming actions:

1. Single Market

a) Commission Communication to the June European Council

This will present recommendations on how to make better use of the existing tools for improving and monitoring implementation of the Single Market, proposals on how to organise annual reporting on the Single Market, including on network industries and proposals on how to improve infringement/enforcement policy.

b) Commission report on the Services Directive and efforts to open up services markets, with recommendations for additional measures

The Commission is currently assessing the quality of the implementation of the Services Directive in all Member States, from an economic and legal point of view and on the operation of the Points of Single Contact and will report on this in the coming months.

c) Commission report on the outcome of sectoral performance checks

We are processing performance checks in 3 key sectors: Tourism, Construction and Business Services, to assess how different pieces of EU legislation applying to services work in practice when taken together.

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Would you say that the demands or the planned actions are ambitious enough to turn the tide? If they are, in your view, will the needed qualified majorities be found? Is a sea change likely in the EU countries, especially the ones behind the curve?



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (ranked fourth among politcal blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?