Euclid Network's guide to the EC's work programme

Euclid Network’s Rough Guide to the
European Commission’s work
programme 2010

The new programme contains a number of items which should be of
interest to non-profit organisations and civil society in general. Whether
the plan’s focus on citizens’ needs and social issues is a genuine attempt
to turn the existing ‘Economic Europe’ into a badly needed ‘Social Europe’
remains to be seen.

But civil society is not powerless: by reacting to consultations and
advocating its positions at home and in Brussels, CSOs and individual
citizens alike can influence the Commission’s communications, policy
drafting and proposals.

The full programme can be viewed on the European Commission’s website
at http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/programmes/docs/cwp2010_en.pdf

1. What is important in the work programme?
2. Tackling the crisis and sustaining Europe’s social market
economy
3. A citizens’ agenda: putting people at the heart of European
action
4. The external agenda: a coherent and influential European
Union
5. Modernising EU instruments and ways of working

Euclid Network’s rough guide to the European Commission’s work programme 2010 1

1. What is important in the work programe?
Four main strands are mentioned:

- Tackling the crisis and sustaining Europe’s social market economy.
- Building a citizens’ agenda which puts people at the heart of
European action.
- Developing an ambitious and coherent external agenda with global
outreach.
- Modernising EU instruments and ways of working.

The focus of this first Work Programme is on delivering strategic initiatives in
2010. It also highlights in a non-exhaustive way initiatives under consideration
for the coming years.

Of course, all of these strands are, to a greater or lesser degree, important for
civil society, but much will depend on how relevant the ideas and actions within
every strategic initiative are. And most of all, will the initiatives be
complementary and internally and externally consistent, will the objectives of
social policy be integrated into economic policy, or will the strategic initiatives be
as contradictory as Trade and Foreign Aid policies have always been known to be.


2. Tackling the crisis and sustaining Europe’s
social market economy
The Commission puts forward “Europe 2020 – a strategy for smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth”. This proposal shows how the EU can exit from the crisis
and move to a more sustainable and dynamic growth path delivering high levels
of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Concrete steps will be taken in
the months and years to come to deliver the new strategy, with three main axes
for the Commission’s work in 2010, i.e. getting out of the crisis, moving the 7
flagship initiatives forward and tackling bottlenecks and missing links.

2.1. Exiting from the crisis
In addressing the current economic and financial situation, the Commission has
put forward 8 different strategic responses so as:

- To strengthen economic surveillance and coordination and improve
governance within the euro area,
- To help return public finances to a more sustainable path:
- To ensure stable, responsible financial markets at the service of
the wider economy.

2.2. Advancing the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives
Concrete steps will be taken in the coming months to flesh out the 7 Europe 2020
flagship initiatives, in close cooperation with relevant Council formations and
stakeholders. These flagships are:

- “Innovation Union”
- “Youth on
- the move”
- “A digital agenda for Europe”
- “Resource efficient Europe”
- “An industrial policy for a globalised era”
- “An agenda for new skills and new jobs” and
- “A European platform against poverty”

The Commission will set out its proposals by way of the following
communications:

- “A digital agenda for Europe” (strategic initiative 9)
- “An industrial policy for a globalised era” (strategic initiative 10): This
initiative will set out priorities to improve the business environment,
especially for SMEs.
- “A European plan for research and innovation” (strategic initiative 11):
This "Innovation Union" flagship will set out priorities to improve
framework conditions for Europe's research and its capacities for creativity
and innovation, including eco-innovation.
- “Youth on the move” (strategic initiative 12): This initiative will set out
priorities to enhance the performance of education systems, to reinforce
the attractiveness of Europe's higher education system and to open more
mobility programmes to young people. A communication on “youth
employment” (strategic initiative 13) will be a policy response to increase


job opportunities for young people, promote apprenticeships and training,
and improve transition from education into work.
- “An agenda for new skills and jobs” (strategic initiative 14): This initiative
will set out priorities to modernise labour markets to boost labour mobility
and the development of skills and competences throughout the lifecycle
with a view to increase labour participation and better match supply and
demand.
- “A European Platform to combat poverty” (strategic initiative 15): This
initiative will set out how to ensure that the benefits of growth and jobs
are widely shared so that people experiencing poverty can be enabled to
take an active part in society. The initiative will notably build on the
lessons of the 2010 European Year to combat poverty and social exclusion.
- Work will also be taken forward on the “Resource efficient Europe” flagship
initiative. The aim is to decouple growth from resource use which will give
Europe a competitive advantage. Furthermore, the Commission will work
to ensure a sustainable, productive and competitive agriculture. This work
will address issues such as the food and renewable production base, and
the dynamism of rural areas, and will serve as a basis to explore avenues
on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy (strategic initiative n° 33),
and prepare future reform of cohesion policy in pursuit of economic, social
and territorial cohesion (strategic initiative n° 34).

It is to be expected that civil society will react mostly to the initiatives about
Youth, Skills & Jobs, and Combating Poverty.

Euclid Network thinks, however, that other flagship initiatives should be
monitored and take the third sector into account as well: the digital agenda and a
better business environment for SME’s should also be about Social Enterprise,
while research and innovation should also focus on Social Innovation.

Flagship initiatives should not overlook the obvious: job opportunities for the
young are wonderful, but how about jobs for those who are supposed to work
longer until retirement, practise active ageing, but are shedded by the
thousands?

In the same vein, a Skills and Jobs initiative should not end up as a plea for
decreasing social protection or ripping existing education and training systems
up: no industry has ever been able to either predict what jobs would come or go,
or define the skills for those jobs in a coherent and ‘implementable’ way.
Therefore, making industries themselves at least partly responsible for training
and retraining might make sense.

A major challenge for civil society will be to influence ‘how to ensure that the
benefits of (environmentally sustainable, we assume) growth and jobs are widely
shared’. This should be where economic policy and social policy should come
together to empower the poor and integrate them fully into society; where social
action and social justice are called for, rather than make poor people the objects
of charity.

2.3. Tackling Europe’s bottlenecks and missing links
The following strategic initiatives will be developed:


- A communication on the relaunch of the single market (strategic
initiative 16,
- A regulation on translation requirements for the future EU patent
(strategic initiative n°17)
- A white paper on transport (strategic initiative 18)
- A package on energy infrastructure (strategic initiative 19)

At the same time, proper implementation of EU law is essential for the realisation
of EU policies and the equal protection of the rights of EU citizens and businesses.
Improved implementation and enforcement of single market legislation is
therefore a major objective, including the full implementation of the “services
directive”.

Monitoring the progress in tackling the bottlenecks and missing links will be
mostly a task for human rights organisations and consumer groups.

As far as the Services Directive goes: it has not been implemented in many
member states yet, and covers cross-border offering of services of general
economic interest, business services, services provided both to businesses and to
consumers and consumer services, under certain restrictions.

Not covered are, among others, non-economic services of general interest (SGIs),
public and private healthcare & social services, and gambling and lotteries. Third
sector organisations in these sectors will, therefore, not be able to offer their
services across borders anytime soon.


3. A citizens’ agenda: putting people at the
heart of European action
The “raison d’être” of the EU is to improve the well-being of its citizens and to
further their interests. Citizens’ needs, concerns and questions are diverse and in
rapid evolution in today’s world. Several provisions of the Lisbon Treaty will help
put the interests of citizens at the centre of EU’s activities, and make the concept
of European citizenship more concrete. A key element of this policy agenda is the
Stockholm Programme for "an open and secureEurope serving and protecting the
citizen".

The Commission will now present (strategic initiative 20) a comprehensive
Action Plan for its implementation (2010-2014) with a view to ensuring that the
benefits of the area of freedom, security and justice become more tangible to the
citizens.

As the Council itself states …‘to ensure respect for fundamental freedoms and
integrity while guaranteeing security in Europe’.., is a priority.

Civil society, however, will need to monitor a balanced approach in these matters.
An open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and
civil society is therefore being encouraged.

3.1. Building a citizens' Europe
A Communication on EU fundamental rights policy will be presented during 2010.
The Commission will complement its recent proposals by new proposals to
improve procedural rights for citizens. In 2010, the Commission will continue to
promote existing proposals before the EU legislator and complement its citizens’
agenda with the following initiatives:

– A proposal on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgements in civil
and commercial matters (strategic initiative 21): This will improve
the recognition of judicial decisions across borders.
– A proposal to revise the working time directive (strategic initiative
22): This will draw the lessons from the on-going consultation of
the social partners to clarify and amend the existing legislation.
– The development of a European judicial area, including a reference
framework for contract law (strategic initiative n° 23), and the
analysis of obstacles to free movement of citizens (strategic
initiative n° 24).
- The protection of personal data (strategic initiative n° 25).

To be watched closely, especially by those working in (health) care is the revision
of the Working Time Directive. Obstacles to free movement will have to be
monitored by social platforms and those working on civil rights, whereas the
protection of personal data is of special interest to human rights, consumer and
fundraising organisations.

3.2. Ensuring an open and secure Europe
The Action Plan implementing the Stockholm Programme will in particular focus
on tackling cross-border criminality and will consolidate the common immigration
and asylum policy. It will notably cover areas such as:


– The fight against organised crime, terrorism and other threats
through improved police and judicial cooperation, including an
internal security strategy of the EU (strategic initiative n° 26).
– A focus on integrating the immigrant population while addressing
illegal immigration and improving the management of immigration
flows, including through an integrated approach to the
management of EU borders.

This area of work is of concern to many non-profit organisations. Firstly, because
the Commission’s attempts to regulate the sector out of fear for terrorism and
money-laundering may lead to instruments that do more harm than good, in case
they are too blunt and general.

Secondly because all aspects of migration have been the sector’s remit for a long
time. There is a risk of shifting attention away from solving catch 22 situations,
treating refugees well and integrating immigrants, and moving instead towards
keeping all non-EU nationals out. We will keep you posted.

3.3. Addressing long-term societal challenges
European society faces a number of long-term trends which will have a direct
impact on the daily life of citizens: these include the spread of new technologies,
immigration and the pressure of demographic ageing, the consequences of
climate change and environmental threats. Public policy needs to address these
trends, both mitigating their risks and factoring their opportunities into future
initiatives.

These trends require careful analysis and the input of a wide range of
stakeholders. The Commission will open public debates and work on the following
issues:

– The future of pensions by presenting a green paper (strategic
initiative n° 27):
– The need to further develop legal immigration policies to alleviate
the pressures of
– demographic ageing and to enhance Europe's competitiveness,
combined with renewed integration policies.
– A new EU biodiversity strategy by presenting a communication
(strategic initiative n° 28): This will set out the concrete actions
that the EU should consider to meet its international commitments
and in the light of the pressures on the ecosystem.
– An EU rapid response capacity by presenting a Communication on
the EU's disaster response capacity (strategic initiative n° 29) to
improve the EU’s response to disasters.

All the above is, to a more or lesser extent, of interest to civil society
organisations. Euclid will keep you informed about events and stakeholder
consultations.


4. The external agenda: a coherent and
influential European Union
4.1. A strong and coherent external representation – the EU
as global player
2010 will see the new external arrangements under the Treaty of Lisbon fully in
place.

This is an area to be watched especially by think tanks and aid organisations.

4.2. Deepening Europe’s trade agenda
The Commission will present a communication setting out a trade strategy for
Europe 2020 (strategic initiative n° 30).

As mentioned earlier, any trade agenda should be scrutinized for fairness towards
developing countries.

4.3. Delivering EU neighbourhood, enlargement and
development policies
The Commission is committed to developing the EU's special relationship with
neighbouring countries based on respect for the values of the Union and
aimed at fostering strong economic cooperation. Commission services will be
cooperating closely with the EEAS on these issues.

The Commission is also committed to steering the enlargement process. Progress
in negotiations will be linked to progress made by candidate countries, with a
special emphasis on the respect of the rule of law.

The Commission will propose an EU action plan in the run up to the 2015
Millennium Development Goals Summit (strategic initiative n°31). Specific work
has been launched to ensure aid efficiency, accountability and consistent
synergies between development policy and policies such as migration, security,
climate action and energy, food security, access to health care and education.


5. Modernising EU instruments and ways of
working
5.1. Smart regulation – ensuring that policies are effective
For the preparation of strategic initiatives, internal coordination will be supported
by inter-departmental working groups, which will follow their elaboration from the
impact assessment to the conception and finalisation of the initiative concerned.

All Commission initiatives with significant impacts, including proposals of
delegated and implementing acts, should be supported by an impact assessment.
In the current economic situation, employment and social impacts are particularly
important, and the Commission will work towards reinforcing its analysis of such
impacts.

To improve the transparency of impact assessment work, the Commission will
prepare roadmaps for all initiatives likely to have significant impact. It
encourages stakeholders to make use of these roadmaps in preparing their inputs
to the policy-making process.

Euclid has been advocating social impact assessment for some time. We think,
however, that social impact assessment should not be restricted to limited items,
but to all new EU policies and regulation. We think this should be taken seriously
rather than be an exercise of ‘ticking boxes’ and invite the sector to take part in
any form of dialogue and consultation about the issue.

5.2. Communicating Europe
Communicating Europe in a transparent and accessible manner is a prerequisite
for citizens' participation in the democratic life of the Union and for Europeans to
be fully aware of the opportunities provided by EU policies.

The Commission will put particular emphasis on three joint communication
priorities: driving the economic recovery and mobilising new sources of growth;
climate action and energy; making the Lisbon Treaty work for citizens.

5.3. Adapting the EU financial framework to serve policy
priorities
The budget of the EU must serve to address the main challenges facing Europe
and provide real value added in promoting the Union's key policy objectives. As
part of its broader political vision, the Commission will put forward a Budget
Review this year (strategic initiative 32).

The Commission will be holding in depth consultations with stakeholders during
2010 on the future direction of key EU spending policies, such as the common
agricultural policy, cohesion policy and research policy.

One aim will be to get stakeholder views on the future direction of policy and to
assess the role of the EU budget in delivering effective results in certain policy
areas.


Euclid Network's guide to the EC's work programme

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