Santer takes new political tack

Date: 26/09/1996

By Rory Watson

THE European Commission is aiming to polish up its image and sharpen its input into Union decision-making by adopting a more political approach to the setting of policy targets for the coming year.

“We are looking at how to make the annual work programme a real political tool with priorities. We do not want it to be simply a shopping list of issues raised by different directorates-general,” said one senior official.

Commission President Jacques Santer is keen to dispel the negative public image of an out-of-touch bureaucratic institution and demonstrate that it is pursuing a coherent strategy.

He has already told his colleagues that the annual exercise should resemble a national government's policy programme by containing the main political themes agreed by the Commission.

“The programme, public perception and Commission's image all fit together. Our work must be clearly situated in a political context, taking full account of what is happening in the other institutions and member states and not just producing things haphazardly,” said one senior official.

The attempt to ensure the Commission's message is loud, clear and relevant comes as the present College approaches the half-way stage of its five-year term of office, and the Union is bracing itself for a number of complex negotiations whose outcome will shape its development into the next century.

The change of strategy is an admission of the failure of the current practice of tabling a lengthy list of frequently technical policy objectives for the forthcoming year.

An internal Commission analysis reveals that only about one-quarter of the original 1996 target list has been achieved. It also confirms that some 40&percent; of the annual action programme is invariably carried over from one year to the next. Even then, less than half these activities are completed.

More significantly, almost 60&percent; of the issues on the EU's agenda this year were not foreseen 12 months ago. These range from measures to tackle BSE to policies to prevent the sexual exploitation of women and children.

Supporters of a change in approach believe it will ensure the Commission makes a clearer, more assertive input into EU business. “There is a feeling that too often the Commission is not the leader, but has been asked to do things by governments or MEPs. The problem it faces is when to take the initiative instead of doing so in response to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament,” said one senior official.

But while legislative activity may be on the decrease, officials maintain that the Commission is increasingly active in many areas of daily life of direct interest to the public.

“We have a lot of important things to do. The fact that we propose fewer legislative measures does not mean we do not have opinions on the main issues. The Commission also has a unique role in pulling everything together, sifting through it and telling the Parliament and the Council what we consider to be important,” said one source.

By setting out its priorities, the Commission aims to indicate where it will concentrate the efforts of its limited staff resources. It also hopes to instil greater discipline into its departments, which traditionally put quantity ahead of quality in the work programme - this year's original shopping list ran to over 400 items before being whittled down to 230.

The College will consider the new strategy in detail early next month. If the present tight timetable is maintained, the institution's 1997 work programme will then be presented to MEPs in Strasbourg on 22 October.

“It looks as if we might emerge with a two-pronged approach. This would mean a political document and a separate second text with an illustrative list of individual proposals,” said one senior official.

Measures to tackle unemployment, plans for the Union's financing after 1999, successful completion of the Intergovernmental Conference on treaty reform and final preparations for a single currency are all likely to feature in the premier league of Commission priorities for 1997.