CONTRIBUTION ADRESSED TO THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
(Adopted on 5 October 2001)

COSAC strongly condemns the terrorist aggression that struck the United States on 11 September 2001 and unreservedly supports the measures taken by the Extraordinary European Council of Brussels of 21 September 2001 in order to fight against terrorism.

1. COSAC underlines the important role that the parliaments of the Member States and of the candidate countries, as well as the European Parliament, should play in the debate on the European Union’s future. The importance of active parliamentary participation in this debate should not be underestimated.
2. The European Council of Laeken should structure the debate that should end up by 2004 at the latest with a new Intergovernmental Conference by setting a method, a timetable and an agenda. COSAC calls upon Member States not to restrict the agenda to the four points mentioned in the Declaration of Nice but to broaden it to a debate on a global political project for Europe.
3. COSAC recalls its support for the convocation of a body built on the model of the Convention of the Charter of fundamental rights in which the national parliaments of the Member States, the European Parliament and the parliaments of the candidate countries should be suitably represented - while envisaging the possibility of having substitutes - and run by a Presidium elected from within itself. The Convention’s role should not be limited to a discussion forum. In effect, the Convention should be tasked to present to the 2004 IGC a coherent draft proposal contributing solutions to the problems with which it is confronted.
4. COSAC supports the creation of a European forum and national forums enabling citizens and civil society, by maximising their participation, to contribute to the Convention’s work.

 

Enlargement

5. COSAC again expresses its strong support for the process of enlarging the European Union and calls upon the parliaments and governments of the Member States to take the appropriate measures to enable the ratification process of the Treaty of Nice to be completed as soon as possible.
6. COSAC also calls upon the European Commission and the Council to make every effort necessary for honouring the commitment made by the European Council of Gothenburg seeking to conclude, by the end of the year 2002, negotiations with the candidate countries that are ready to join. In addition, COSAC urges the parliaments and governments of the candidate countries to make the necessary arrangements as soon as possible to ensure the implementation of the "acquis communautaire".

 

Employment, the European Social Model and Negotiations in the WTO Context

7. COSAC insists that particular attention should be paid to developing the European social model, with respect for the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. In this context, emphasis should be on quality of employment, competitiveness, adaptability and life-long learning, equality of opportunity, greater worker involvement in promoting economic change, modernising welfare protection, fighting against social exclusion and poverty, and sustaining and financing pensions. The objective of full employment and the efforts deployed in terms of the quality of labour should go hand in hand. The importance of having both qualitative and quantitative employment indicators is undeniable.
8. With the prospect of a new WTO negotiating round, COSAC insists on the development of a balanced, global agenda, in the context of which the interests of the developing countries - and in particular the least developed countries - as well as the social and environmental dimensions are taken into account.

 

Food Safety and Sustainable Development

9. COSAC stresses the need for proceeding as quickly as possible to the establishment of a European Food Agency with its own powers but with sufficient democratic control. The setting up of this agency should accompany a strengthened safety regime throughout the food chain.
10. COSAC insists on the implementation of a new European strategy in respect of sustainable development in order to make the policies of the European Union consistent with the three constituent aspects of sustainable development (economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection).

 

Asylum and Immigration

11. COSAC invites the European Union’s institutions to present, at the time of the European Council of Laeken, a joint action plan seeking to control clandestine immigration and to fight against the trade in human beings. It also emphasises the need to harmonise asylum and visa procedures in order to achieve a common European asylum system.

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