Bulletin of the European Union

Secretariat-General European Commission

Description

mars-01
Activities of the institutions and bodies
Target audience: Specialised/Technical

Sujets

• Periodical publication
• Union européenne
• Economie gestion

Informations

• Publié par: SECRETARIAT-GENERAL-EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

ISSN 0378-3693
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Β U L L Ε Τ I
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
3 · 2001 The Bulletin of the European Union reports on the activities of the Commission and the other Community
institutions. It is produced by the Secretariat-General of the European Commission and published
10 times a year in the official European languages.
The following reference system is used: the first digit indicates the part number, the second digit the
chapter number and the subsequent digit or digits the point number. Citations should therefore read as
follows: Bull. 1/2-1994, point 1.1.1 or 2.2.3.
A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Editorial team: rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200 — B-1049 Brussels — Tel. [phone]
Sent to press in May 2001
© European Communities, 2001
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Β U L L Ε Τ I
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
3 · 2001 Bulletin information service
Readers can obtain information on developments since this issue went to press (date of adop­
tion of instruments by the Council, of opinions given by Parliament or the Economic and
Social Committee, of publication in the Official Journal, etc.) by telephoning the documenta­
tion service of the Commission Offices on the following numbers:
London (44-20) 72 22 81 22
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Cardiff (44-29)20 37 16 31
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References in the text s to other parts of the same issue of the Bulletin are given in parentheses in text,
thus (-> point 2.1.53).
Abbreviations
Publications cited in this Bulletin
Bull. Bulletin of the European Union
Supplement — Bull. Supplement to the Bulletin of the European Union
General Report General Report on the Activities of the European Union
Currencies
ATS Austrian schilling
BEF Belgian franc
DEM German mark
DKK Danish krone
ESP Spanish peseta
FIM Finnish markka
FRF French franc
GBP Pound sterling
GRD Greek drachma
IEP Irish pound
ITL Italian lira
LUF Luxembourg franc
NLG Dutch guilder
PTE Portuguese escudo
SEK Swedish krona
USD United States dollar Contents
Activities in March 2001 Parti
News in brief
Stockholm European Council 7
Presidency conclusions 8
Annexes to the Presidency conclusions 19
Institutional affairs and the future of the Union 23
Human rights 25
The Community economic and social area 27
Economic and monetary policy 27
30 Statistical system
32 Employment and social policy
35 Equal opportunities
35 Internal market
42 Competition
48 Enterprise
50 Research and technology
51 Information society
54 Economic and social cohesion
57 Agriculture
59 Fisheries
Citizenship and quality of life 63
Area of freedom, security and justice 63
Citizens' rights 66
Education and culture 66
Environment 66
74 Energy
76 Transport
78 Health and consumer protection
82 Press and communication
5 Enlargement 83
6 Role of the Union in the world 85
Common foreign and security policy 85
International organisations and conferences 93
Common commercial policy 95 Development cooperation 97
Humanitarian aid 98
98 Relations with the western Balkans
101 s with the southern Mediterranean and the Middle East
102 Independent States of the former Soviet Union, Mongolia
104 United States, Japan and other industrialised countries
105 Asia
106 Latin America
107 ACP countries and OCTs
Financing Community activities, resource management 111
Budgets 111
114 Financial operations
Protection of the Communities' financial interests
and the fight against fraud 114
116 Community law
Monitoring the application of Community law 116
Decisions by the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance 118
Community institutions 123
European Parliament 123
Council 124
Commission 129
European Investment Bank 130
131 Economic and Social Committee
Documentation Part 2
1 The euro 134
2 Additional references in the Official Journal 135
3 Corrigenda 136
4 Index 137 PART ONE
ACTIVITIES
IN MARCH 2001 News in brief
Π European Council: the European Council meeting is held in Stockholm on 23 and
24 March, being the first of the scheduled annual spring meetings devoted to economic and
social issues, with particular emphasis on strategic guidance aimed at achieving sustained
growth and stable macroeconomic conditions, as well as employment­rate targets. Steps are
also taken to ensure more effective securities market regulation, and the situation in the agri­
cultural sector is addressed. Other issues raised concern external relations, e.g. with Russia
and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (—» points 1.28 to 1.32 and 1.36).
D Simplification: the Commission adopts an interim report on improving and simplifying the
regulatory environment (—» point 1.1.4).
D The future of Europe: the public debate on the future of Europe is launched in Brussels
(­> point 1.1.3).
D Information society: the Commission adopts a communication on the impact of eEurope
on the knowledge­based society, including the modernisation of public administrations
(—» point 1.3.85), a communication on the introduction of third generation mobile communica­
tions in the European Union (—> point 1.3.95) and an action plan entitled '¿Learning — Designing
tomorrow's education' (—» point 1.3.86).
D Fisheries: the Commission adopts a Green Paper on the future of the common fisheries policy
(—» point 1.3.125) and a communication entitled 'Elements of a strategy for the integration of en­
vironmental protection requirements into the common fisheries policy' (—> point 1.3.134).
D Justice and home affairs: the Commission adopts a series of proposals for regulations
concerning a uniform visa format and residence permits for third­country nationals
(—» point 1.4.4), and a proposal for a Council directive concerning the status of third­country
nationals who are long­term residents (—» point 1.4.8).
D Environment: the Commission adopts a proposal for a directive on the protection of the en­
vironment through criminal law (—» point 1.4.39) and biodiversity action plans (—» point 1.4.25).
Π Energy: the Commission adopts proposals for a European Parliament and Council directive
and regulation relating to the completion of the internal market in electricity and natural gas
(­»point 1.4.43).
D Turkey: the Council adopts a decision setting out the conditions for implementing the acces­
sion partnership with Turkey (—» point 1.5.6).
D Asia: the Council adopts a decision concerning the conclusion of the framework agreement
for trade and cooperation between the European Community and the Republic of Korea
(­> point 1.6.99).
Bull. EU 3­2001 I — Stockholm European Council
volving the candidate countries in the goals and Stockholm, 23 and 24 March
procedures of the Lisbon strategy.
Reference: Conclusions of the Lisbon European
Council: Bull. 3-2000, points 1.5 and 1.17 Expressing its concern about the severity of the
situation in the agricultural sector and its solidar­
ity with farmers and others in rural communities, ƒ.7. The European Council held its first annual
the European Council welcomed and stressed the spring meeting in Stockholm to discuss economic
importance of effective cooperation among na­and social issues, as decided in Lisbon a year ear­
tional authorities, and endorsed the thorough lier. The meeting was chaired by Mr Persson,
measures being taken by the Council, the Com­Prime Minister of Sweden and President of the
mission and the Member States. It was deter­Council, and was attended by Mr Prodi, President
mined to contain and ultimately eradicate of the Commission; the proceedings commenced
foot-and-mouth disease and BSE, and requested with the customary exchange of views with
the Council and Parliament to ensure that the de­Mrs Fontaine, President of the European Parlia­
cision on the establishment of a European Food ment, on the main items on the agenda. The Euro­
Authority be taken before the end of the year. pean Council members also held talks with
Mr Putin, President of the Russian Federation,
and met with Mr Trajkovski, President of the The presence of President Putin in Stockholm was
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. a demonstration of the importance of the Euro­
pean Union's strategic partnership with Russia.
The European Council pointed to the need to de­As regards the central topic, the Stockholm meet­
ing gave the European Council the opportunity to velop this partnership further and to continue the
political and security dialogue, stating that the take stock of progress made in the economic and
Union would continue to support the reform pro­social sphe