Leaders play up focus on jobs and growth
Fiscal rectitude must be balanced with measures to create jobs and stimulate growth, the European Council agreed tonight.
At the conclusion of their summit, the leaders of the European Union’s national governments put out a statement that is designed to ward off criticism that they are relying on austerity measures alone to get the eurozone out of its debt problems.
They conceded that: “We must do more to get Europe out of the crisis.” Fiscal consolidation was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a return to higher structural growth and employment, they said.
They aspired, they said, to “growth-friendly consolidation and job-friendly growth”.
Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said that this meant “slashing deficits, but not our investments for the future” and “increasing the competitiveness of our companies while making it more attractive for them to hire people”.
José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said that national governments had to focus on structural reforms “precisely because there is no space for fiscal stimulus”.
Barroso said he would discuss with national governments ways to re-direct €82 billion in unallocated EU funds to projects that would maximise growth and job creation.
Detailed action has, for the most part, been left to the European Council meeting in March (which is traditionally devoted to economic matters). That Council will give a country-by-country assessment of economic and employment policies, though the national leaders said the Council would have to pay attention to the growing divergences between member states’ economic situations and the social consequence of the crisis.
But, in the short-term, the Council has made a declaration of aspiration and intent on three issues: creating jobs for young people; completing the single market; and helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
On jobs, the Council statement recognises that reform of the labour markets is “mainly a matter for the member states”. But it urges member states to promote work experience for young people and improve early participation in the labour markets through apprenticeships and traineeships, and make greater efforts to get those who leave school early into training.
It says that the EU will:
– work with those member states that have the worse levels of youth unemployment to “redirect available EU funds towards support for young people to get into work or training”;
– increase the number of placements in businesses under the Commission’s Leonardo de Vinci programme;
– use the European Social Fund to set up apprenticeship schemes;
– promote cross-border labour mobility.
The statement is notably short of numbers and specifics on how much money might be reassigned, though it says better targeting will have to be “within agreed ceilings”, implying that no new money will be made available.
There are more specifics on the completion of the single market. The Council calls for agreements by the end of June on current legislative proposals for standardisation, energy efficiency and the simplification of accounting requirements, and sets a deadline of the end of the year for agreement on simplifying public procurement rules.
The Council also calls for “rapid implementation” of the Commission Action Plan on e-commerce; wants a new legislative proposal on e-signatures before June and wants agreement on roaming charges and on rules on online dispute resolution by June.
More cautiously, the Council calls for “modernisation” of Europe’s copyright regime to adapt to the digital economy and for “progress” in “structured discussions” on the co-ordination of tax policy issues.
The Council urges member states to implement at national level what has been agreed for the single market – particularly on services and the energy market. The Commission has been asked to report in June on ways to improve implementation of single market legislation.
To help SMEs, the Council says that by June there should be faster use of structural funds “where appropriate re-programming monies and committing monies not yet allocated to specific projects, concentrating on growth enhancement and job creation”.
Also by June, support from the European Investment Bank for SMEs should be strengthened, the Commission’s proposal to use project bonds for key infrastructure projects should be “rapidly examined”, and an EU passport for venture capital should be agreed.