Donal Moynihan
Question:9 Mr. Moynihan asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the progress, if any, which has been made on the EU's SLIM initiative during Ireland's Presidency of the EU. [18722/96]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EU Initiatives.
Hugh Byrne
Question:28 Mr. H. Byrne asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the progress, if any, which has been made to date on the EU's Philoexnia Programme; and whether it has been considered by the Council of Ministers under his Presidency. [18721/96]
Seán Power
Question:32 Mr. Power asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade when the EU Citizen First initiative will be launched. [18724/96]
Hugh Byrne
Question:54 Mr. H. Byrne asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the progress, if any, which has been made in advancing his aims during Ireland's Presidency of the EU; and the plans, if any, he has for the remainder of the year. [18720/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 28, 32 and 54 together.
My Department is concentrating on three main areas during the Presidency of the EU — the internal market, EU external trade policy and tourism.
With regard to the EU internal market I will chair two meetings of the Internal Market Council on 25 October and 26 November. My priorities for these remain first, to review the functioning of the internal market and to initiate any action required in the light of the Commission's report on the effectiveness of the internal market which is due to be published later this year; second, to oversee the completion of the "Citizens First" initiative, which is designed to inform EU citizens of their rights in the internal market; third, to oversee progress on the Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market, SLIM, initiative on simplification of legislation; fourth, to progress and if possible secure agreement on the remaining priority internal market legislative measures and fifth, to progress the work being carried out to assist the countries of central and eastern Europe to align their legislation to that of the EU as part of their preparations for accession thereto.
The SLIM initiative will be reviewed at the November Council on the basis of studies which have been carried out to date in four areas: construction products, ornamental plants, INTRASTAT and the recognition of diplomas. The "Citizens First" initiative is expected to be launched before the end of November.
In the external trade area I will, with the Commission Vice-President Brittan, represent the EU at the first Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Singapore on 9-13 December. My objective for the December WTO conference is to ensure a strong EU contribution and an outcome reflecting the EU priority of consolidating and developing the multilateral trade system. In preparation for this conference I hosted an informal meeting of EU Trade Ministers in Dublin on 18-19 September which has greatly helped to advance this objective.
In the tourism area the priority has been to make progress on the Commission proposal for a Council decision on a first multiannual programme to assist European tourism. This is known as the Philoxenia 1997-2000 programme. While considerable progress has been made at working group level on the text of this proposal, there are, I believe, reservations regarding subsidiarity issues which may well manifest themselves at the meeting of deputy ambassadors — Coreper — in Brussels tomorrow, 18 October. Whether we are in a position to consider the proposal at the tourism council planned for 5 November next may well depend on the outcome of the Coreper meeting, although I hope colleagues will ensure that we will be able to deal with this at the Council on 5 November.
Is there any reason to be confident that the introduction of, for example, the SLIM initiative will have the effect of reducing European intervention in people's lives? I am sure the Minister agrees that the level of European intervention is not welcomed by many people. As a result of this will there be less intervention for people in the marketplace involved in trade and for citizens generally? With regard to "Citizens First" initiative, what will be the effect of the introduction of this measure?
This matter has been raised on a number of occasions at European ministerial meetings. There is a clear understanding and a recognition with our colleagues in Europe that legislation should be simplified to the greatest extent possible. For this reason the Market Council of 28 May adopted a resolution which mandated the Commission to undertake a review of the internal market relating to the matters I have outlined.
The Florence European Council conclusions require that a report be submitted to Council before the end of the year on the initial results of that initiative and it is intended to take steps to further progress the work being undertaken in this area at the November internal market council. The intention is clear to make the legislation simpler and not to have it as bureaucratic as heretofore. There will be a report on this at the November meeting and one, required by the Florence Council, before the end of the year.
The "Citizens Initiative" is designed to inform citizens of the EU of the benefits created for them by the Single Market. Some citizens within the EU believe they know enough about the Single Market; others do not. A publicity campaign, which will involve promotional leaflets and television and radio commercials will be launched in November. This initiative should have been under way by now but queries were raised by the European Parliament regarding the proposed financial plan for the campaign, which was approximately 35 million ECU. This resulted in the startup being delayed until November. I hope that when it does take place it will prove positive and will make the real benefits of being European citizens and the advantages of the Single Market more clearly understandable for people.
With regard to the Philoxenia programme, to which the Minister referred to and which would benefit from simplification of its name and pronunciation, will its effect be to assess the effect of EU funding on tourism, or what is its long-term intention?
The long-term intention is to have a multiannual programme for overall tourism development within the EU. There are differences among colleague members on this as to whether it should be included. I would like to see a situation where our colleague countries understand the importance of tourism in a general sense and that, without interfering with national or regional development plans, we would have an overall umbrella organisation or operation which would not cost that much but which would make tourism a priority which it should be. As I pointed out earlier, our colleagues have some reservations and it requires unanimity so I cannot say if the Philoxenia Programme will reach a conclusion. I hope this will happen but we must await the outcome of the meetings between now and November.