Press Releases

Heads of State and Government resolve on concrete measures for citizens

“We have made some important decisions in these conclusions", stressed the President of the European Council, Austrian Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, at the closing press conference of the European Council. Several measures have been resolved upon under the motto “Europe Protects", for example the rapid finalisation of legislative measures on border control and police cooperation, making the Schengen Information System operational by April 2007 and the Visa Information System in 2007. Discussions on the Commission’s proposal for establishing Common Application Centres were also taken forward.

The Heads of State and Government also agreed on improving the EU’s responsiveness to emergencies, crises and disasters inside and outside the Union. When emergency situations occur, citizens expect a swift and effective response. The Austrian Presidency submitted a report in this area on “Reinforcing the Union’s emergency and crisis response capacities". The crisis response capacity of the European Union should be further developed based on resources made available by Member States.

The Heads of State and Government agreed on an improved strategy to ensure sustainability in a globalising world. Sustainable development involves ensuring that life in all its diversity remains possible on Earth in future, and forms an integral part of the European way of life.

Extensive measures have been set in place to create jobs and there have been considerable achievements, Schüssel said, pointing to the successful conclusion of the Services Directive and the Financial Perspective for 2007-2013. In addition special emphasis has been laid on investments in knowledge and innovation, business potential, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, and employment of priority categories within the re-launched Lisbon Strategy. “The impacts are already visible. Two million additional jobs have been created since June 2005”, he pointed out.

Chancellor Schüssel appeared especially pleased about the success in settling the dispute on joining forces to combat rare diseases. “This decision was very important to me personally. It is mainly children who are affected by these rare diseases, such as epidermolysis bullosa, which cause great pain and frequently lead to premature death. We are now able to take joint action against them", Schüssel stated, pointing out that provision had been made in the 7th Framework Programme for research activities to develop preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic intervention.

He welcomed the fact that the Heads of State and Government had managed to agree on increasing the transparency of the Council’s work. For example all Council deliberations on legislative acts to be enacted under the co-decision procedure, and votes and Council Members’ explanations of voting shall now be public. “The European home and space has been given a breath of fresh air. This decision on transparency means we are offering the public wide-ranging involvement and participation", Schüssel said, pointing out that the impacts of making Council deliberations public should be reviewed after six months.

In order to enhance the functioning of the Union, the Heads of State and Government reaffirmed the principle of subsidiarity. In this context the Commission’s commitment to make all new proposals and consultation papers directly available to national parliaments for their comments is particularly welcome. In the area of "Better Regulation", which concerns a 25 per cent cut in the administrative burden, it was established that all relevant bodies have made significant progress since the last session of the European Council in March 2006. Member States are now being asked to reduce administrative burdens on businesses. We have even managed to carry out reforms on the complex comitology procedures, the Federal Chancellor stated. In future both the Council and the European Parliament will scrutinize the Commission’s implementation of European legislation.

Lengthy discussions were held on enlargement, according to the Federal Chancellor. “We see enlargement as one of the great success stories of the European Union". According to a study by the Austrian Economic Research Institute, wage differentials have fallen by half over the past 12 years. “Our strategy has proved correct. Enlargement is a real win-win story", Schüssel continued. The subject of the absorption capacity of the European Union remains on the agenda. As a result, the European Council invites the Commission to provide a special report on all relevant aspects pertaining to the Union’s absorption capacity, at the same time as it presents its annual progress reports on enlargement and pre-accession processes.