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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 97-02-24
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Porte-Paroleb
24/02/97
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Jacques Santer: "We must give substance to the Transatlantic Agenda"
[02] Jacques Santer : "Il n'y aura d'euro faible avec moi"
[03] Karel Van Miert gives green light to licensing arrangements concluded
between Cadbury Schweppes plc. and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.
[04] Franz Fischler at the Friedrich Ebert foundation in Bonn on the
ecological challenges for agriculture
[05] Investment growth expected to be weak
[01] Jacques Santer: "We must give substance to the Transatlantic Agenda"
Speaking in Brussels on 21 February to a conference organised by the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the President of the
European Commission said that "the Transatlantic Agenda does not mean
anything if it is not sustained by a strong determination to build a real
EU-US partnership". "Any long term vision of Euro-American relations must
recognise that the present concentration of power and influence is being
gradually diluted". "We need the cooperation of various emerging
international forces to address global and regional issues" and "we need to
assure the cooperation of countries like Russia which are in phase of
transition". "We need a revitalised and more effective international
system". "A sound and flexible institutional framework is needed to
increase the effectiveness of decision-making at the multilateral level and
to improve the efficiency with which the decisions are implemented." We
must solve the difficulties that the United Nations face: "UN bashing might
be fashionable - until we discover that we are shooting ourselves in the
foot". President Santer called for a new shared vision for the future,
saying that the US should be ready to "share influence and power more
equally with its European partners" and to "understand the specificity of
this unique animal which we call the European Union". "There is little
point in criticising the EU for not behaving as if it were a single nation
state".
[02] Jacques Santer : "Il n'y aura d'euro faible avec moi"
S'adressant au congrès de la CDU du Bade-Wurtemberg, Jacques Santer a dit
le 22 février que tout a été prévu pour que l'euro soit au moins aussi fort
que le D-Mark. A ceux qui estiment que le Pacte de stabilité est
insuffisant, il rétorque: "Où en sommes-nous arrivés, si nous n'avons plus
assez confiance dans notre système de démocratie parlementaire pour laisser
au moins une certaine marge d'appréciation à nos Ministres des Finances
dans l'évaluation d'une récession grave ?" Ceci n'enlève rien à la
solidité de l'Union économique et monétaire (UEM). "Nous n'avons pas
simplement transposé le modèle allemand au niveau européen. En soi, cela
aurait déjà été un grand succès. Mais nous avons introduit des garanties
de stabilité supplémentaire" dans l'UEM, a souligné le Président de la
Commission. "En ce qui concerne la Banque centrale européenne, son
indépendance et son orientation sur la stabilité des prix sont plus
fortement ancrées légalement que ce n'est le cas pour la Bundesbank."
Tandis que pour la politique budgétaire, les règles du Traité de Maastricht
et du Pacte de stabilité et de croissance "sont sensiblement plus sévères
que tout ce qui existe en République fédérale." Pour Jacques Santer, les
règles sont certes très strictes, "mais nous savons très bien que même sans
Maastricht, les temps d'une politique économique, monétaire et des finances
laxiste sont terminés." L'UEM n'est pas un but en soi, mais seules des
politiques macro-économiques saines peuvent enrayer le chômage, comme le
montrent avec succès le Danemark, l'Irlande et les Pays-Bas. Aussi, il
n'est pas question, pour Jacques Santer, d'envisager un report de la mise
en oeuvre de la troisième phase de l'UEM. "Je crains que, si nous
reportons la date, nous reporterons l'Union monétaire de toute une
génération."
[03] Karel Van Miert gives green light to licensing arrangements concluded
between Cadbury Schweppes plc. and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.
Karel Van Miert has instructed the European Commission competition services
to approve the licensing arrangements forming part of the overall
transaction between Cadbury Schweppes plc (CS) and Coca-Cola Enterprises
Inc. (CCE). The agreements are for an initial period of 15 years,
extendible by a further 10 years unless either party gives notice of
termination. The Commission Competition services have nevertheless
informed the parties that they will re-examine the agreements in the light
of any new circumstances which might alter their assessment and, in any
event, after a period of seven years. To this end, CS must submit a report
on the operation of the agreements no later than by the end of 2003, on the
basis of which the Commission services will be able to examine whether
their favourable view of the arrangements should be maintained.
[04] Franz Fischler at the Friedrich Ebert foundation in Bonn on the
ecological challenges for agriculture
(!!! embargo 5 pm !!!) In his address entitled "The future of the
European integration process and common ecological challenges" in Bonn
today, Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler stressed the need for a
"quality-offensive" in European agriculture in order to meet consumers'
increasingly high demands, especially in the wake of the BSE crisis. The
Commission's initiative to protect registered agricultural and food
products, Mr Fischler stated, was in line with this aim, as were two
further Commission proposals currently before the Council of Ministers,
namely on the identification of animals and the labelling of beef and beef
products. The 130 different agra-environmental programmes in force
throughout the European Union, with a 1993 to 1997 budget of DM 8 billion,
were also part of this "quality-offensive", and as such welcomed by
farmers. Mr Fischler warned of the danger of undermining the quality of EU
agricultural produce through enlargement since there was a strong tendency
towards intensive agriculture in the 10 candidate countries of Central and
Eastern Europe in order to acquire more favourable quotas after accession.
Equally, European quality standards must be protected and maintained
throughout the next WTO negotiations, Mr Fischler declared. (!!! embargo 5
pm !!!)
[05] Investment growth expected to be weak
In its "Business and Consumer Survey Results" n° 1 of January 1997, the
Commission expects industrial investment is set to increase by 3% in real
terms during 1997, compared with 4% last year. In December industrialists
assessments of their economic situation continued the recent trend of
steady improvement in most countries. However, the overall result was
slightly worse on account of a marked deterioration in the UK. Consumer
confidence in the economic situation continued to strengthen steadily in
December and the business outlook in the retail trade is also brighter.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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