10-11 July Economic and Social Committee

Date: 18/07/1996

THE Union is being urged to introduce special measures to help up to 50,000 workers whose jobs have been affected by the BSE crisis. The difficulties faced not only by farmers but also by others in ancillary industries were highlighted by the Economic and Social Committee (ESC). It supported a call for the Union's regional, social and agricultural funds to be used to retrain workers and to create jobs in other areas. The ESC warned that beef consumption in some countries had collapsed by as much as 40&percent; and that the few sales actually being made were at prices 20&percent; below pre-crisis levels. It pointed out that a 5&percent; fall in the amount of beef eaten in the EU would create a 1-million-tonne surplus next year, while a 20&percent; reduction would mean 2 million tonnes of unwanted produce. The ESC also called for research into BSE to be intensified and is pressing for legislation on the labelling of all animal products.

THE principle of geographical concentration should be strictly applied when EU Structural Funds are allocated to regional and social programmes, the ESC decided. The Committee endorsed the Commission's emphasis on the objective of creating jobs, but insisted this should not become the sole criterion in the allocation of finance. It also approved moves to simplify existing procedures and supported the use of outside assessors to consider the merits of Community support frameworks and single programming documents.

CONSUMER policy priorities drafted by the Commission for the next three years were endorsed by the Committee, although members criticised the failure to analyse fully the experience of earlier plans. It urged suppliers to make a greater effort to supply informative labelling and called for comprehensive regulation of novel foods. The Committee also argued for Union-wide legislation to cover guarantees, after-sales service and the inclusion of non-processed agricultural products within existing EU product liability rules.

ENTITLEMENT to unemployment benefits should be possible beyond the current three-month period when workers go to another EU member state to look for work, the Committee agreed when examining proposed changes to existing social security schemes. The ESC argued that certain procedures, particularly the calculations for extending entitlement and arrangements for the payment of benefits, should be simplified.

SUPPORT also emerged for a draft EU legislation to complete the existing mutual recognition of diplomas system. The ESC, however, tabled a number of proposals designed to improve the present arrangements. It suggested that unambiguous appeal procedures should be introduced, a mechanism established to help professional organisations in different member states in their bilateral negotiations and a brochure produced to inform people on the way the system works.

THE ESC approved moves to amend existing EU legislation on the contained use of genetically modified micro-organisms to take account of technical and scientific progress. The changes are designed to define and classify risk levels more precisely, simplify procedures and provide better safety guarantees.