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Europaudvalget 2011-12, Det Udenrigspolitiske Nævn 2011-12
Det Europæiske Råd 1-2/3-12 Bilag 4, UPN Alm.del Bilag 132
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Ref. Ares(2012)223167 - 27/02/2012

Brussels, 27 February 2012

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for your letter addressed to President Van Rompuy and me in preparation for the

Spring European Council on 1-2 March. It is a very timely contribution to the debate on how

we can get Europe growing and creating jobs. As you know, throughout the crisis, the

European Commission has been working side by side with Member States in the European

Council, the Council and individually, as well as with the European Parliament, to do

everything possible to ensure that the EU emerges stronger than ever from our current

difficulties. From the European Economic Recovery Programme to the Europe 2020 strategy,

the deepening of our system of economic governance, the overhaul of our financial regulatory

system and adapting our Structural Funds to increase co-financing levels and introduce crisis

response measures such as support for working capital, we have spared no effort to ensure

that the EU and national levels work in harmony to deliver a bigger and better response than

any single Member State can do alone. The effort that has been mobilised by all of us is a

very real expression of EU solidarity and I thank you for your continuing support. Now it's

time to be concrete. Now it's time to decide on the concrete proposals the Commission has

put on the table.

Together, we are acting decisively to restore stability, strengthen public finances and to show

solidarity with those Member States that are currently facing serious difficulty. This is

absolutely essential - but it is not enough. We need to do more to create the conditions for

our longer term prosperity, to trigger a virtuous circle of reform, stability and sustainable

growth. We all agree on the importance of taking the right decisions for our future growth

and competitiveness. The true test we now face is whether we can translate these good

intentions into results on the ground.

We have agreed on an ambitious and comprehensive growth andjobs strategy:

Europe 2020.

Our common ownership of it needs to be more visible to our citizens. They need to know that

the EU has a clear strategy for building a better future and that all Member States are

working in the same direction. There should be no artificial separation between EU and

national growth policies, they reinforce each other. The crisis is having a severe social

impact in some Member States and is causing anxiety right across the EU. As well as taking

active measures to boost employment and to help the most vulnerable, we need to provide a

sense of direction and hope. Otherwise we will not be able to count on the social

acceptability of the important measures that need to be taken.

Europe 2020 is a crucial strategy that needs to be implemented now so that we achieve our

common goals by 2020. One way to implement Europe 2020 is through the work we do

together in the European Semester. This means we need to carry out ambitious structural

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reform at national level in line with the priorities the Commission has set out in our 2012

Annual Growth Survey. I look forward to discussing them with you in the European Council

later this week and to our collective endorsement of these key priorities for action. On that

basis the Commission will be ready to make very clear, country specific recommendations

where we think that more must be done.

I am encouraged that your letter reaffirms many of the priorities we agreed in our Europe

2020 strategy. In all of these areas, the Commission has already set out a clear vision and has

made concrete proposals, some of which are yet to be adopted by the co-legislators. We will

continue to give priority to the measures that we think have the greatest potential to drive

growth and job creation. I have asked the Council and European Parliament to fast-track

these and I am delighted that the European Council has endorsed this approach. I count on

your full support in bringing the negotiations on these proposals to a swift conclusion,

including in areas where you may need to adjust your national positions to enable us

collectively to reap the growth dividend.

Your letter takes up eight clear priorities to strengthen growth. In the attached annex I set

out more detailed comments on each of these eight areas as a contribution to focusing our

debate in the European Council. More generally I would make the following comments.

We all know that the Single Market is a huge source of growth and jobs for Europe and that

we have not yet tapped its full potential. Just implementing fully what we have already

decided would bring new opportunities for businesses, both big and small. That is why the

Commission will be reporting on the quality of implementation of the Services Directive, on

sectoral performance checL· and will soon make recommendations on implementation and

enforcement. Almost all of the Single Market Act proposals are now on the table of the

Council and Parliament and you have supported our wish to get them agreed by the end of

this year. In the second half of this year the Commission will propose a new round of

measures designed to open up new growth areas of our Single Market.

Similarly, we must step up our efforts to continue to complete our

digital single market by

2015,

including through swift agreement on our proposals on dispute resolution and rapid

consideration of our forthcoming proposals on copyright. The stakes are very high: we have

just published a study showing that a truly digital single market could boost EU GDP by as

much as €110 billion a year.

I agree that we must deliver on our commitment to establish a genuine

internal market in

energy

by 2014. All Member States need to implement the third energy package as we have

agreed. A good signal to markets would befor all Member States to transpose and implement

our legislation rapidly — the Commission is still obliged to take infringement proceedings

because of Member States'failure to comply with agreed legislation in this important area. In

particular, the adoption of the Commission's proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive

should be given priority in view of its growth enhancing potential as well as its energy and

climate benefits.

Research and innovation

hold the key to Europe's future competitiveness. This is another

area where acting now will pay rich dividends in the future. We have tabled important

proposals to help SMEs to access finance and to support innovative companies, for example

through a European venture capital regime. And I need not repeat how important a swift

agreement on a European patent is - after a thirty year wait, it is time to deliver.

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It is clear that we will not fulfil our potential if we only look inwards. President Van Rompuy

and I were recently in India and China where we discussed the huge benefits to growth and

jobs of open markets and

international

trade. We are investing heavily in our negotiations

with India, Canada and Singapore to name but a few and talks on how to deepen our

economic relations are under way with many other countries and regions, including the US.

We know that some of our partners still have to overcome internal obstacles before we can

conclude but there are domestic political issues to be tackled on our side too if we want to

seize the growth opportunities offered through new trade agreements. We need to discuss

them openly and to find a consensus between all Member States. I have already suggested to

President Van Rompuy that we devote a future working session of the European Council to

these issues.

I welcome your support for the work the Commission is doing to get the regulatory

environment right

nobody wants to see the innovative potential of small businesses being

smothered by red tape. This is why the principles of smart regulation are at the heart of

everything we do. We will only include micro-enterprises within the scope of our proposals if

there is a compelling case for doing so. We have already tabled measures that would reduce

administrative burden

by up to €40 billion. They have not all been adopted to date.

We need a stable and secure financial system but more than that, we need a financial system

that performs its basic function: support for the real economy. The comprehensive overhaul of

financial regulation and supervision that we have undertaken is designed to deliver on all of

these objectives. We have moved quickly and decisively to implement the agreements reached

at the G20 and in Basel in full and will make several important proposals in the coming

months.

This is already a full and ambitious agenda for growth. But I believe we can and must go

further. A well functioning Single Market needs modern infrastructure to get goods and

services to market and to ensure that consumers have real, price competitive choice of high

quality goods and services. We need well-targeted investment in infrastructure to fill the

missing UnL· in our Single Market. We need to agree on ways to bring down the cost of

broadband roll-out and to accelerate investment in key infrastructures. This is exactly the

kind of spending that we should be prioritising as it will lay the foundations for future growth

and employment.

Of course, the bulk of financing for our infrastructure investment must come from the private

sector, particulary now when public budgets are constrained. The Commission's proposal for

project bonds

is a smart way of using public money to attract private investment to key

strategic energy, digital and transport projects. This approach has large scale potential in the

future - to show that it worL· we have proposed a pilot project bond initiative to be launched

in 2012/2013. Working together with the EIB, the Commission proposes to commit €230

million from the existing EU budget which could support investments worth up to €3.5 billion.

I count on your support to get our legislative proposal agreed under the Danish Presidency.

Tackling

youth unemployment

and creating the conditions for

SMEs to thrive

is also a top

priority and we had a very productive discussion at our meeting on January. I explained how

the EU budget could be mobilised to help get young people back into work and to support

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SA/Es -

the action teams I proposed have visited the eight Member States with the highest

levels of youth unemployment and are looking right now at how we can deliver swift results.

This is part of a broader drive to modernise labour markets, incorporating both national

reforms and European-level action to promote mobility. We have launched a review of the

system of professional qualifications and have opened a debate on the future of pensions.

Your letter concludes by recognising that the ambitious agenda that we share "requires

leadership and tough political decisions". I agree - and you will not find the Commission

wanting in this regard. These are challenging times but full of opportunity. Europe is a

continent rich in potential, which has a clear strategy for economic renewal in Europe 2020

and the Commission has tabled many concrete proposals to promote competitiveness as well

as social inclusion that now need to be agreed and implemented. By working together at 27,

and with our social partners and regions, being open to finding the compromises that are

necessary to reach agreement without lowering the level of our ambition, we can get the EU

growing again. I welcome your support for this agenda and I hope that we can work together

quickly to restore confidence and to deliver results for our citizens and businesses.

I look forward to discussing these issues with you when we meet at the end of the week. I am

copying this letter to all of our colleagues in the European Council.

Yours sincerely,

Jose Manuel BARROSO

To Prime Minister David Cameron, Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Prime Minister Mario

Monti, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime Minister

Jyrki Katainen, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Prime Minister Petr Nečas, Prime Minister Iveta

Radičová, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Prime

Minister Donald Tusk