Economic and Social Committee

European Economic And Social Committee

Description

Annual report 1994
Activities of the institutions and bodies

Sujets

• Annual report
• Directory
• European Economic and Social Committee
• Economie gestion

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-ECONOMIC-AND-SOCIAL-COMMITTEE
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
Directorate lor the Registry of the Assembly and the
Bureau and for Planning
Rue Ravenstein 2, B-1000 BRUSSELS
Tel. [phone] Telegrams ECOSEUR
Fax [phone] Telex 25 983 CESEUR EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
Annual Report
1994
Brussels— 1995 Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1995
ISBN 92-830-0265-2
© ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1995
Reproduction ¡s authorized, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is
acknowledged
Printed in Italy Contents
Preface 5
Chapter I — Presence and influence of the Economic and Social Committee ... 7
Chapter II — Work of the Committee 15
1. Agriculture, forestry, rural development and fisheries
2. Transport policy and telecommunications 33
3. Social, family, educational and cultural affairs 40
4. Economic, financial and monetary policy
5. Regional development and town and country planning policy8
6. Industrial policy 5
7. External relations, trade and development policy 52
8. Energy policy, nuclear questions and research
9. Protection of the environment, public health and consumer affairs 64
10. Delegations and relations with third countries 7
11. Conferences 77
Chapter III — Relations with the media 81
Chapter IV — The Groups3
Chapter V — Internal aspects of the Secretariat9
1. Staff 8
2. Budget 90
3. Meetings
4. Structure of the General Secretariat in 1994 9
Annex A — List of Opinions and information reports issued during 1994 9
Annex Β — List ofs drawn up by the Committee on its own initiative
during 1994 109
Annex C — Graphs 11Preface
The year 1994 was marked by the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty. This
strengthened the Committee's role: (a) by giving it control over its own Rules of
Procedure and by legally recognizing its right of initiative, and (b) by giving it the
same budgetary powers as the Court of Auditors had before it became an
institution.
The Committee's scope for mandatory referrals was also increased. From now
on it will be serviced by a common organizational structure shared with the
Committee of the Regions.
The Treaty on European Union sets out a number of challenges, some of which
are of very direct concern to the Economic and Social Committee and the legal
status of its members. One of these is to redefine its advisory duties to take
particular account of the political and social need to draw EU institutions and
citizens closer together. Reducing the democratic deficit is unimaginable with­
out increasing the involvement of representatives of socio-occupational organ­
izations in the Community decision-making process.
The Economic and Sosical Committee's desire to participate in this process is
at the centre of its concerns, and increased involvement is the aim of all its
members.
Carlos Ferrer
President CHAPTER I
Presence and influence of the
Economicand Social Committee
1. THE ESC'S CONSULTATIVE ROLE
During the reference period, the Economic and Social Committee produced
146 items of consultative work: 122 Opinions followed referrals from the Com­
mission or the Council; 22 Own-initiative Opinions and two information reports
were also issued.
Detailed information on this major Committee contribution to Community
activity will be found in Chapter II.
2. APPLICATION OF THE MAASTRICHT TREATY
The ESC General Secretariat carried out the preparatory work for the organiza­
tion of the inaugural session of the Committee of the Regions (COR), held in
Brussels on 9 and 10 March 1994. The ESC Secretariat serviced all COR
meetings during the first four months of the existence of the COR, the new
consultative body set up under Article 4 of the Treaty on European Union.
Protocol 16 to the Treaty on European Union lays down that the Economic and
Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions shall have a common
organizational structure. This structure came into force on 1 January 1995.
3. THE ESC'S NEW TERM OF OFFICE
The inaugural session of the Economic and Social Committee was held on 18
October 1994, with the oldest member, Mr Kazazis, in the Chair. At this
meeting, the new Committee was installed in office for its 10th four-year term-of
office from 21 September 1994 to 20 September 1998.
The ESC's first task was to elect its President and two Vice-Presidents for a two-
year term as laid down in its Rules of Procedure. Mr Carlos Ferrer (Spain —
Employers) was elected President by 149 votes to six, with four abstentions. Mr
Bent Nielsen (Denmark — Workers) and Mr André Laur (France — Various
Interests) were elected Vice-Presidents.
Following his election, Mr Carlos Ferrer gave an address. Many important
guests were in attendance, including Mrs Nicole Pery, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr Jacques Delors, President of the European Commis­
sion, and Mr Dietrich von Kyaw, representing Coreper.
4. ESC-COUNCIL RELATIONS
Greek Presidency
Mr Alexandras Baltras, State Secretary for Trade and acting President of the
Council for the first six months of 1994, presented the Greek Presidency's
programme to the Economic and Social Committee at the Plenary Session held
in Brussels on 26 January. This Presidency's priority was clearly established as
fighting unemployment.
At a meeting of the Section for Transport and Communications held in Brussels
on 11 February 1994, Mr loannis Haralambous, acting President of the Trans­
port Council, made a statement on the Greek Presidency's programme.
German Presidency
Mr Günther Rexrodt, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and acting Council
President for the second half of 1994, outlined the German Presidency's
programme at the ESC Plenary Session held in Brussels on 6 July.
Mr Rexrodt's presentation was followed by a wide-ranging discussion with
Committee members. The Council President repeatedly stressed the impor­
tance for the Community decision-making process of the consultative role of the
ESC, both now and in the future.
Mr Dietrich von Kyaw, Chairman of Coreper, represented the Council President
at the inaugural working session of the 10th four-year term of office held on 20
October 1994.
At the 321st Plenary Session, held in Brussels on 21 December 1994, Mr
Norbert Lammert, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Min­
istry of Economic Affairs, presented the conclusions of then Presidency
on behalf of the Council Presidency.
5. ESC-COMMISSION RELATIONS
In 1994, working relations and cooperation with Commission departments were,
as in previous years, excellent. Special reference should be made to the
attendance of the Commission President, Mr Delors, at the inaugural session of
the ESC's 10th four-year term of office held in Brussels on 20 October.
The following Commissioners also attended ESC Plenary Sessions:
24 February 1994: Mr Peter Schmidhuber, for the adoption of the Opinion on
the Cohesion Fund;
8