Pools voorzitterschap en Wereldbank komen met rapport over versterking economische groei (en)
On Thursday, the Secretary of State for European Affairs Mikolaj Dowgielewicz presented in Brussels the Presidency’s report- ‘Towards a European consensus on growth’ pertaining to sources of economic growth in Europe.
The report’s attempt is to address two issues of key significance to the European Union: what developmental forces should the community bank on to step up growth and, secondly, how to reconcile the need of development-stimulating investment with the necessity of maintaining balanced public finances?
The Presidency’s report, due to be the basis of discussion at the EU Council forum, points out areas in which — in the Presidency’s view — developmental potential is to be found: human capital, the internal market, e-economy, the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, regional policy and the ‘green economy’.
The Presidency expresses the hope that this document, drawn up in close cooperation with the World Bank, will initiate a debate in European Union Member States on ways of accelerating economic growth. That is the basic remedy for the economic crisis. The Presidency’s report not only formulates a diagnosis but also contains specific recommended actions.
The report speaks i.a. of increasing resources for programmes fostering the mobility of students, young scholars and staff (e.g. Erasmus, Marie Curie) as well as increasing to 40 percent the number of people aged 25-34 with higher education which could contribute to a four percent per capita GDP increase in the EU. The report also indicates the need for the professional activation of women (equalising the share of women and men in the job market could bring about a 13 percent GDP increase in the euro zone). It also attaches a great deal of importance to the promotion of lifelong learning by means of LLL coupons, financed by the European Social Fund.
According to the reports’ authors, considerable latent potential is found in the e-economy: building an efficiently functioning digital single market would make it possible to generate an additional 4 percent GDP by 2020. Benefit could also be derived from full implementation of the Services Directive (possible GDP growth of up to 1.5 percent) as well as by lowering roaming fees and introducing maximum data-transmission prices which would contribute to greater mobility and the development of trans-border activity. The report also proposes the creation of a blue button, a European contract-law instrument. Its purpose would be to rectify the present situation in which as much as 61 percent of all electronic commerce offers do not lead to contracts because of the co-existence of 27 different legal systems.
Of great importance to the competitiveness of the European economy will be the elimination of bottlenecks in transport and energy infrastructure as well as the proliferation of access to broadband Internet in Member States by 2013. The pro-growth recommendations found in the report also include: integration of the European venture capital fund market, supporting the development of the recyclable materials market and continued use of regional policy as the EU’s main pro-growth instrument.
The discussion launched by the report will not end when the Polish Presidency is over. It will be continued by the remaining partners of the presidential trio — Cyprus and Denmark.