Brusel, 18. únor 2009, European Policy Center
European Policy Centre
Breakfast policy briefing
2009 EU Presidency: a first Czech-up
With A. Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister for the EU Affairs
of the Czech Republic
18 February 2009
• When governments take office, they are usually allowed for 100 days of undisturbed settling-in. Czech Presidency didn´t even get 100 hours to take a comfortable seat behind the EU Council steering wheel – Gas + Gaza catapulted us right to the center of events.
• Presiding the Council for the first time is like driving a new and strong car. We´ve managed to stay on the road through the first two sharp and slippery turns. Our task now is to keep the pace throughout the race. And assure our fellows that sleeping behind the wheel does not belong to Czech driving habits. We have 6 weeks behind us, so what is the balance of the first quarter of the Czech Presidency?
• Gaza – EU has assumed its global responsibilities and filled the vacuum at times of transition between administrations in US, traditionally active in the region.
• Diplomatic mission headed by foreign Minister Schwarzenberg, backed by the Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner, Council High Representative Solana and our Trio partners visited the region immediately after the outbreak of fighting
• Prime Minister Topolanek took part in negotiations at Sharm –al-Sheikh which contributed to the cease-fire
• The Presidency sent an expert team to Gaza to evaluate the humanitarian situation, which is now our utmost priority. We continue to communicate with our partners in the region. We support Egyptian efforts for creating the government of national consensus, in charge of reconstruction and elections. We also welcome Egypt´s offer to host a donor´s conference at the beginning of March, which EU will co-sponsor.
• It crucial that EU remains active in the region. While doing so, it is equally important that we work hand in hand with the US and the Quartet . Given the results of Israeli elections we might have to wait a while before the government coalition is negotiated – President Obama´s support for a two-state solution is crucial for the EU and US to have enough leverage to urge the continuation of the peace process. This is one of the reasons why we would like Middle East to belong to the topics of European meetings with President Obama.
• Gas – was an even more drastic – even if anticipated – start of the Presidency.
• More than 20 EU members were affected by gas shortages caused by the annual dispute between Russia and Ukraine. The Czech Presidency and the European Commission managed side by side the situation and finally helped to find solutions. We brought the two sides behind the negotiating table and we were able to preserve the unity of the EU – an uneasy task when Bulgarian citizens were freezing and Slovak enterprises on the verge of collapse. While doing so, we felt very strongly, how much the word „European Solidarity“ needs to be filled with substance.
• The Czech presidency has placed energy security among its three main political priorities (Economy, Energy, Europe in the world) long before the disruption of gas supplies have once again displayed the vulnerability of the EU. The main task of the Presidency will now be twofold.
o First – to work on re-establishing confidence vis-a-vis our Eastern partners, which has been shaken due to the crisis. We must not disengage with Ukraine. It is EU´s vital interest to contribute to stability, transparency, better government and economic development of this country. That´s why in the light of the crisis EU should step up its efforts to establish the Eastern Partnership. The Czech Presidency will launch this initiative by a high-level summit on May 7, 2009. We, of course, also need to develop and restore a relationship of trust with Russia.
o Second, to use the momentum and political will generated by the crisis to bring the most pressing long-, medium and short-term measures increasing energy security into being. The energy ministers are meeting tomorrow to set priorities regarding energy security and solidarity. We believe they should include i.a:
Diversification of energy suppliers, sources and supply routes – we need as many options as possible – including Northern Corridor, Southern Corridor and Nabucco
Better interconnections – work on the six priority infrastructure actions should be carried out: Southern gas corridor, LNG supply for Europe, interconnections in the Baltics, North-South interconnections within Central and SOuth-East Europe, the Medditerranean Energy Ring and the North Sea Offshore grid
Regular assessment of energy supply and demand that would facilitate identification of investments that could reduce risks to security of supply
Enhanced external dimension of the EU energy policy – EU should speak with one voice. We should also step up energy relationships with third countries and regions notably via Eastern partnership and cooperation with Russia. High-level political engagement with supplier and transit countries of the Southern Corridor or further accessions to the Energy Community Treaty are equally important.
Crisis mechanisms for oil and gas supplies
Increased energy efficiency
Needless to say, apart from the European Economic Recovery Plan, EU will need appropriate means to achieve these goals.
Energy will belong to the main issues of the spring European Council, along with economy. Which brings me to the fact that major challenges are still ahead of us. The Czech Presidency is taking place at times of the worst economic downturn since the foundation of the European Communities. The GDP of the euro-zone economy shrank by an annualized 5,9% in the fourth quarter of 2008. New member states suffer from recession, too, since Germany and other Western Europe countries are their vital export markets. The economic slowdown is accompanied by a deterioration of situation on the labour market – Commission expects that 3,5 million jobs will be lost in EU this year. Public finance is getting under pressure, too – due to smaller tax income and increased spending for recovery measures Commission expects the total EU deficit to double to more than 4,4% GDP this year. Last but not least, while the European elections are approaching, we have to explain to our increasingly angry citizens, why the public has to foot the bill for the problems of financial institutions.
These combined effects represent a serious threat not only to European prosperity, but to the very founding principles of the single market, and, in extremis, to the idea of European integration as such. In an effort to boost domestic economies and industries, governments are under pressure to bring about measures which may not be in line with state aid rules or principle of non-discrimination, which is the very basis of acquis communautaire. Temptation of protectionism and pushing problems to other EU countries is huge – and dangerous, as it sacrifices long-term prosperity of all for short-term populist demand. Unless recovery measures of EU member states are better coordinated, they might lead in the medium-term to serious infringements of free competition, spillovers and other externalities. The Czech Presidency has therefore decided to call an extraordinary informal meeting of the Heads of State and governments on March 1, 2009, to discuss these issues. Preliminarily, we see three main possible issues on the agenda:
1) How to reach harmony and better coordinate national recovery measures so as to increase their positive multiplication effect and avoid exacerbating the current situation by pushing problems to other member states?
2) How to re-open credit channels stalled due to the crisis and hampering the functionning of businesses?
3) How to better implement the European Economic Recovery Plan and measures supporting employment?
The extraordinary meeting will also serve as a run-up to the spring European Council, where we are planning to take stock of progress achieved in ensuring greater stability, supervision and transparency of financial markets. We will also assess the implementation of the EERP. We would like to use this opportunity to underline, that, after short term fiscal measures, long-term consolidation measures must follow. We would like to reiterate Member State´s commitment to return to medium-term budgetary targets as soon as possible, since increasing public deficits represent, in the long run, a danger for economies as important as recession itself (as we can see in cases of some endebted EU countries). Since it is absolutely crucial to maintain the integrity of the European Union´s single market to tackle the recession, we would like to underline at the spring European Council the importance of adhering to fundamental principles of Internal market. The importance of implementing Lisbon Strategy in all its pillars should be mentioned, too.
Not to forget other important issues on the agenda of the Spring European Council, we would like to establish the Union´s position in view of the G20 summit. Apart from Economy, Energy and climate change will be another important chapter of the spring EC, the content of which I have already outlined above. The European Council will have the important task to establish EU´s position regarding the preparation of the Copenhagen conference, including scaling up finance and investment flows for both mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries.
And, last but not least – external relations – we would like the Council to approve the Eastern partnership initiative with a view to the summit to be held with the partner countries in May.
Conclusion
As you see, our agenda is pretty full. While during the first half of the Presidency energy and economy will be the leading topics, Lisbon Treaty, institutional issues and external relations will govern the second – at least as demanding as the first. I believe you will agrese with me that, given the issues on the daily EU agenda, the choice of our priorities – Energy, Economy and External relations – was more than appropriate. The Czech Republic is not a super-power – the main value added of our Presidency should be consensus-building and adherence to the rules of the game. We are assuming our task with full responsability and consideration for the interests of EU as a whole. I very much hope that we will earn your respect by our deeds.