Tackling the issues which matter most to EU citizens

Date: 11/06/1998

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair explains why Union leaders must focus on jobs and prosperity at next week's Cardiff summit, stressing the need for change if the EU is to compete successfully in the global market-place

I WANT the Cardiff summit to tackle the issues central to the European Union's future success: above all, jobs and prosperity.

That is why I have put economic reform in the widest sense at the top of the agenda for Cardiff. It is also why we will be having a real debate on the future of Europe and how we can bring Europe closer to the people.

For I believe there is a growing consensus that the European Union will have to change if economic and monetary union and enlargement are going to work, and if we are to compete successfully in the global market-place.

Europe has certainly moved closer together and Britain, under the new government, has abandoned the isolationist policies of the past.

On the other hand, the need for flexible labour markets and a regulatory approach that makes us more competitive and less bureaucratic is increasingly accepted.

We are now talking the same language: implementing sound macroeconomic policies while taking measures to enhance employability; improving the single market while promoting fairness at work; making welfare a deal, not a dead end; using market mechanisms to help entrepreneurs generate jobs.

At Cardiff, this debate will be taken up by EU leaders. There are clearly limits on what can be achieved at a summit like this: reform is a long-term process. But I want to give these issues a new impetus.

I believe the discussion should focus on four priorities.

First, we need to review our national employment action plans, steering away from an over-regulatory approach and towards specific measures to generate jobs.

Second, we need agreement on common economic guidelines for reforming product, capital and labour markets.

Third, I would like to see new measures to ensure that the single market is being implemented effectively and consistently, including action to tackle unwarranted price differences.

Fourth, we need better regulation and better access to capital for the real job creators, the entrepreneurs and the small and medium-sized enterprises.

This is what I mean by the 'Third Way' - a radical shift from old-style regulation to a new emphasis on education and skills, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, technology and infrastructure.

These issues have been at the heart of the British presidency of the EU. When we took over in January, we set ourselves the task of working with our partners to achieve three main objectives: launching monetary union successfully; supporting democracy and stability in Europe by beginning the enlargement negotiations; and taking forward the reforms necessary to meet these two historic challenges.

Further single market liberalisation, for example in the telecoms sector, was a priority. So too were the fight against crime and drugs, and the environment. We also wanted to show that Europe could work effectively and be a force for good in its relations with the outside world.

Even before Cardiff, I already believe that this presidency has opened up a new era in Britain's relations with the rest of Europe.

Gone are the days when the story of every summit was a bust-up between Britain and everybody else, when our EU partners had to mediate with a Britain that seemed permanently out-of-sorts and out of touch with Europe.

Getting agreement at the EMU Council in May was not easy. But although the process was messy and difficult, we got the right man for the job of leading the European Central Bank at this vital time. And we got there despite what seemed to be unreconcilable starting positions.

In the end, it is results that matter - as the positive reaction from the markets demonstrated.

So Europe has now embarked on one of its greatest challenges. The economic conditions are not at present right for Britain to take part in EMU. But we have said that a single currency in a single market makes sense and, like all Europeans, we have a huge interest in the project's success.

Under this presidency, we and our partners have also had the privilege of taking forward the process of righting one of the great injustices of the Cold War: the division of Europe.

In the space of 20 days in March, we opened the European Conference, secured agreement on the Accession Partnerships regulation, and launched the accession process and negotiations.

The Union's enlargement to embrace central and eastern Europe and Cyprus is now under way. It will be some years before the first round of negotiations is concluded. But the common course we are now pursuing represents an historic mission. That mission will finally erase the scars of a divided continent and bring enormous advances in the prosperity and security of Europe.

Agenda 2000 - the overhaul of the European Union's budgets and policies in advance of enlargement - will also be discussed at Cardiff.

The UK presidency has laid a good foundation for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. We also want to identify principles for simplifying the procedures and improving the management of the structural funds. We will be taking these issues forward in coalition with our partners, although the final decision will have to be reached later.

I also believe we need to make clear our desire for the EU to reopen meaningful dialogue with Turkey.

The European Union must be a force for enhancing our common security at home and abroad.

Our presidency has aimed at integrating the environment into other areas of the EU's work such as transport and energy, to cut pollution at its source. I hope the European Council will endorse further steps in this direction.

On organised crime, we have just approved the pre-accession pact with the central European countries and Cyprus to extend the fight eastwards. I also want the summit to discuss Kosovo. We need to send the strongest possible signal to President Slobodan Milosevic that the international community will not stand by and watch this become another Bosnia.

We took over from a successful Luxembourg presidency. We hand over to an Austrian one that I know is eager for the challenge. In between, I hope we will have made a useful contribution.

If we can agree on the future direction of economic reform in the European Union at the Cardiff summit, I will see our presidency as having been a success on those grounds alone.

In just over a year as prime minister, I have noticed a real shift in the debate. This will, I believe, be seen by the people of Europe as a sign that their institutions are now focusing on the things that matter most to them - their jobs and their prosperity.