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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 96-10-09
From: HR-Net News Distribution Manager <dist@hri.org>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Porte-Paroleb
09 / 10 / 1996
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[I] Résultats de la Commission de ce jour -
Outcome of today's Commission meeting
[01] Benchmarking the competitiveness of European industry
[02] Employment in Europe 1996 report
[03] Rapport intermédiaire sur le transit
[04] Commission opens procedure to study aid granted by the Italian
government to Alitalia
[II] Other news - Autres nouvelles
[05] Franz Fischler announces BSE research priorities
[06] Martin Bangemann et Edith Cresson rencontrent les Ministres des 15 sur la
communication par satellite
[07] Ritt Bjerregaard: We need market quotas
for HCFCs in order to safeguard
the EU phase out programme
for ozone depleting
[I] Résultats de la Commission de ce jour -
Outcome of today's Commission meeting
[01] Benchmarking the competitiveness of European industry
Today the European Commission has approved a Communication proposing
benchmarking as a tool for the enhancement of the competitiveness of the EU
industry. Benchmarking is a tool to monitor progress on an ongoing basis and
to assess the situation against continuously improving best practice world-wide.
It goes beyond competitive analysis by providing an understanding of the
processes and skills that create superior performance. The Commission has
found that Europe's industry is lagging behind major competitors like the United
States and Japan, in terms of job creation, productivity levels and employment
rates. Export market shares, profit margins and investment returns remain
inadequate. High level of costs of key inputs such as labour, energy, water,
communications and transport, and low investment in research & development,
plants and equipment contribute to EU industry's poor performance.
[02] Employment in Europe 1996 report
The European Commission today adopted the Editorial section of the
Employment in Europe 1996 report which states, inter alia, that: "The pursuit of
stability-oriented macroeconomic policies ..... must be continued without giving
in to technology pessimism, fear of global trade liberalisation or beggar-thy-neighbour attitudes through uncoordinated, stand alone-action......" The key
political messages and policy conclusions which can be drawn from the Report
are to: carry on with stability-oriented macroeconomic policies; promote increased
demand; address the structural rigidities; respect solidarity and social justice;
redress the distortion against low-wage and low-skill groups; reinforce the skill
level of the European workforce; implement preventive policies against long-term
unemployment; and promote active labour market measures. These policy ideas
will constitute an input for the important discussion on employment which is
scheduled at the European Council in December in Dublin.
[03] Rapport intermédiaire sur le transit
La Commission européenne entend mener à son terme le plus rapidement
possible le processus de réforme nécessaire des systèmes douaniers de transit,
car le volume des fraudes constatées atteint un niveau tout à fait inacceptable.
C'est à cette fin qu'elle a adopté ce jour une communication par laquelle elle
transmet au Parlement européen et au Conseil le rapport intermédiaire de ses
services consacré à l'analyse de la crise du transit, en raison notamment des
fraudes dont il fait l'objet. Cette analyse est complétée d'une synthèse des
suggestions de réforme avancées par diverses sources, publiques ou privées, et
de ce qui pourrait constituer une stratégie d'action en la matière. Le rapport est
destiné à servir de document de travail et de référence pour l'ambitieux
programme de consultation que la Commission entend lancer auprès de
l'ensemble des acteurs publics et privés du transit avant de définir ses
orientations au début de l'année prochaine, notamment à la lumière des travaux
de la Commission d'Enquête sur le transit du Parlement européen.
[04] Commission opens procedure to study aid granted by the Italian
government to Alitalia
The European Commission decided to open a procedure under article 93(2) of
the Treaty to investigate whether the proposed capital injection of 1500 billion lire
by the Italian authorities into the airline Alitalia is compatible with the Treaty rules
regarding state aid in the aviation sector. For the aid to be compatible the
Commission will have to be satisfied that the financing is proposed in the context
of a restructuring plan designed to return the company to commercial viability
within an established period.
[II] Other news - Autres nouvelles
[05] Franz Fischler announces BSE research priorities
In spite of the known existence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) for
over a decade and the research carried out in this area to date, there are still
major gaps in our absence of knowledge of the disease. This was stated today
by Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Franz Fischler when he
announced in conjunction with Professor Charles Weissmann the results of the
Weissmann group regarding priorities for research on BSE in the future.
Mr Fischler went on to say that the absence of absolute scientific certainty on
BSE makes it all the more difficult to deal with the crisis in a rational and
methodical way as opponents to any approach chosen can cast doubt on its
scientific justification given that virtually nothing about BSE has been 100%
confirmed scientifically. It is imperative, he said, both from the point of view of
protecting human health and also to have the disease eradicated as fast as
possible that the research effort be increased substantially in the immediate
future.
[06] Martin Bangemann et Edith Cresson rencontrent les Ministres des 15 sur la
communication par satellite
Les membres de la Commission européenne responsables pour les Affaires
industrielles, Martin Bangemann, et pour la Science, la Recherche et le
Développement, Edith Cresson, rencontreront le 10 octobre à Paris à 16 heures
les Ministres des Etats membres responsables de la communication par satellite
ainsi que les industriels de ce secteur. La discussion portera sur les principales
questions industrielles, technologiques et réglementaires, qui affectent ce secteur
stratégique pour l'Europe. Elle devrait permettre à tous les acteurs européens
de progresser vers une approche plus proactive et coordonnée aux défis globaux
qui se présentent à l'Europe dans ce domaine, notamment en provenance des
Etats Unis.
[07] Ritt Bjerregaard: We need market quotas for HCFCs in order to
safeguard the EU phase out programme for ozone depleting substances
For the first time the European Commission has allocated market quotas to the
EU producers and importers of hydro-fluorcarbons, HCFCs. The quotas are set
in order to ensure that the EU quantitative limit for emission of ozone depleting
substances is not exceeded in 1996. HCFCs will be phased out completely in the
EU by 2015, five years earlier than required under the global Montreal Protocol.
As HCFCs comprize a range of substances with varying potentials for destroying
the ozone layer, the quotas are calculated in OPD (ozone depleting potential)
tonnes. The quotas allocated to the EU producers and importers of HCFCs add
up to a total of 8,079 ODP tonnes for the EU in 1996.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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