General Report on the activities of the European Union 1996

European Commission Secretariat-General

Description

Activities of the institutions and bodies
Construction of Europe

Sujets

• Annual report
• European Communities
• Single market
• Droit et juridique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-SECRETARIAT-GENERAL
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
GENERAL REPORT
ON THE ACTIVITIES OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION European Commission
General Report
on the Activities of
the European Union
1996
Brussels · Luxembourg, 1997 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)
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1997
ISBN 92-827-9356-7
© ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1997
Reproduction is authorized, except for commercial purposes, provided the
source is acknowledged
Printed in Belgium The President and the Members of the European Commission to the President of
the European Parliament
Sir,
We have the honour to present the General Report on the Activities of the Euro­
pean Union for 1996, which the Commission is required to publish by Article 156
of the EC Treaty, Article 17 of the ECSC Treaty and Article 125 of the EAEC
Treaty.
In accordance with the procedure described in the Declaration on the system for
fixing Community farm prices contained in the Accession Documents of 22 January
1972, the Commission will shortly be sending Parliament the 1996 Report on the
Agricultural Situation in the Community.
And, in accordance with an undertaking given to Parliament on 7 June 1971, the
Commission is preparing its twenty­sixth annual Report on Competition Policy.
Please accept, Sir, the expression of our highest consideration.
Brussels, 11 February 1997
Jacques SANTER Edith CRESSON %J¿KSisr**r^
President
I
Leon BRITTAN I fL· Ritt BJERREGAARD
Vice-presidentI0"^tii
Manuel MARIN Monika WULF-MATHIES QOL^^ ^(UCCL · <-&*·*€—_>
Vice-president
Martin BANGEMANN Ouul Neil KINNOCK Uü' o
Karel VAN MIERT Mario MONTI
Hans VAN DEN BROEK Franz FISCHLER —T ■ ^~H<}0¿l¿Cf~
Emma BONINO Joao de Deus PINHEIRO A*1 ^ ' "~^ τι GTSJD^­ => 3-
Pidraig FLYNN Yves-Thibault de SILGUY 4$,
Marcelino OREJA Erkki LIIKANEN C"-»-O ^-C *-*> Ay
Anita GRADIN Christos PAPOUTSIS
4 NOTE
Legislative instruments under the co-decision procedure are mentioned in the
Report followed by '(Table I)'. Instruments under the consultation and cooperation
procedures are followed by '(Table ID'. International agreements are followed by
'(Table III)'. No footnotes are given for these instruments, which are listed in three
separate tables annexed to the Report. The relevant references (OJ, COM, Bull.) for
all the stages of the legislative procedure concerning each instrument, together with
the appropriate point numbers in text, are given in the tables.
As a rule, no references are given in text for intermediate stages of procedures
which started before 1 January 1996 and were not completed at 31 December 1996.
These references also appear in the tables.
Standardized abbreviations for the designation of certain monetary units:
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
THE EUROPEAN UNION IN 1996 1
CHAPTER I — INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE 11
CHAPTER II —UNION CITIZENSHIP7
Section 1 — Priority activities and objectives
Section 2 —Citizens' rights 18
Freedom of movement and right of residence
Right to vote and stand in elections
Right to diplomatic protection9
Right of petition and right of access to the Ombudsman 1
Section 3 — Openness, subsidiarity and simplification 21
CHAPTER III — HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS5
Section 1 — Inside the European Union 2
Section 2 — Outside the European Union7
CHAPTER IV —THE COMMUNITY ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AREA 29
Section 1 — Implementation of the White Paper on growth, competitiveness and
employment and of the initiative 'Action for employment in Europe:
A confidence pact' 2
Section 2 — Services of general interest 35
Section 3 — Economic and monetary policy7
Priority activities and objectives
Economic situation 38
GEN. REP. EU 1996 VI CONTENTS
Economic policy coordination 38
Preparations for the third stage of economic and monetary union 40
Operation of the European Monetary System (EMS) 44
Financial activities 45
International monetary and financial matters6
Economic dialogue with the associated countries7
European Monetary Institute (EMI) Investment Bank (EIB)
European Fund (EIF) 50 Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 51
Section 4 — Statistical system2
Activities and main objectives
Framework and guidelines
Publications 53
Section — Internal market5
Priority activities and objectives
Management of the internal market6
Free movement of goods8
Free of persons 62
Freedom to provide services
Free movement of capital4
Taxation5
Company law6
Intellectual and industrial property7
Data protection
Public procurement9
Preparation for the integration of the countries of Central Europe with associate
status into the internal market 6
Section 6 — Competition 71
Priority activities and objectives
Competition rules applying to businesses2
Sfate aid7
Public undertakings and national monopolies9
International aspects
GEN. REP. EU 1996 CONTENTS VII
Section 7 — Industrial policy 81
Priority activities and objectives
Industrial competitiveness
Individual sectors3
Section 8 — Enterprise policy, distributive trades, tourism and cooperatives 9
Priority activities and objectives 9
Improving the business environment
Support measures for businesses
Small businesses and the craft sector4
Cooperatives, mutual societies, associations and foundations 9
The distributive trades
Tourism 9
Section — Research and technological development 96
Priority activities and objectives
Community RTD policy
Implementation of specific programmes under the fourth framework programme 100
Promotion of innovation and technology transfer 109
Coal and steel technical research
Section 10 — Education, vocational training and youth 111
Priority activities and objectives 11
General aspects
Cooperation in the field of education3
Vocational training policy4
Foreign language teaching5
Open and distance learning and technological innovation 11
Cooperation in the field of youth 116 with non-member countries7
European Training Foundation Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) 118
European University Institute
Section 11 —Economic and social cohesion 120
Priority activities and objectives
Structural measures, regional policy
GEN. REP. EU 1996 VIII CONTENTS
Innovative measures and other measures for the regions 131
Cohesion Fund 135
Section 12 — Measures for the most remote regions7
Priority activities and objectives
Agriculture
Fisheries
Customs, tariff and trade measures8
Section 13 — Trans-European networks 139
Priority activities and objectives
General matters and financing
Transport 141
Telematics and telecommunications2
Energy3
Environment
Section 14—Energy4
Priority activities and objectives
Community energy strategy 14
Internal energy market7
Individual sectors8
Relations with third countries 151
Euratom Supply Agency3
Sfate aid to the coal industry
Section 15 — Transport4
Priority activities and objectives
Development of the common transport policy 15
Infrastructure and traffic management and navigation systems5
Transport and environment
Research and technological development
Inland transport 156
Sea9
Air transport 160
Summer-time arrangements2
Sfare aid
GEN. REP. EU 1996