RESOLUTION B3-0184 and 0190/93

Resolution on employment, recession and investment

The European Parliament,

-having regard to its resolution of 30 October 1992 on economic and employment policies,

-having regard to the declarations of the summit on social dialogue of 3 July 1992 and to the Edinburgh European Council of December 1992,

-having regard to the Commission's 1993 Annual Economic Report,

A.having regard to the continuing deterioration in employment prospects in the Community and the Danish Government's statement that job creation would be the first priority of the Danish Presidency,

B.whereas the Community countries are required to coordinate their economic and social policies,

C.whereas recent speculation against various currencies has appreciably, in some instances needlessly, cut citizens' purchasing power in certain countries and discouraged businessmen from making any fresh investment move,

D.whereas the benefits of completing the internal market, as forecast in the Cecchini report, have not been secured in full,

E.whereas the achievements in the fight against unemployment, with the traditional methods used to date, have been inadequate,

1.Considers that the measures agreed at the Edinburgh European Council are insufficient to prevent a further increase in EC unemployment;

2.Regrets the lack of economic and monetary coordination among Member States' governments and believes that, in the absence of a more radical shift in economic policies, the Community faces a deepening recession, which will throw millions more workers out of jobs, damage further the competitiveness of European industry and make it almost impossible for Member States to meet the criteria of economic convergence necessary for the creation of EMU;

3.Urges the Commission, the Council and governments of Member States to act on the conclusions of its above-mentioned resolution;

4.Stresses that, in the medium term, there must be monetary stability if there is to be an economic recovery and success in the fight against unemployment;

5.Insists that the Maastricht criteria must not be interpreted as favouring deflationary fiscal policies in the midst of recession which would simply deepen both the economic and the fiscal crises, and therefore calls on the Commission, Council and Member States to identify a package of coordinated adjustments in fiscal policies sufficient to stimulate economic recovery;

6.Stresses that, to strengthen the underlying structure and performance of the European economy, Member States must cooperate closely on an active industrial policy, together with measures to tackle the problem of short-termism in relations between industry and finance, and to redress global financial and trading imbalances;

7.Considers that small and medium-sized enterprises must be helped to develop their participation in basic and continuous training and to benefit from research and innovation and from public investment in connection with major infrastructure works;

8.Believes that the Community must support investment in poorer regions and in areas threatened by decline;

9.Emphasizes that Community social policy should be strong enough for economic competition not to threaten employment or erode social rights and that the Community must adopt measures on manpower mobility;

10.Urges the Commission and the Member States to make optimum use - while carrying out the groundwork for economic recovery - of human resources through vocational advancement and retraining programmes geared to future demand, thereby at the same time alleviating the impact of redundancies;

11.Urges the Commission and the Member States to study the monetary institutions' coordinated proposals for cutting interest rates;

12.Believes that the Community should develop with the social partners a policy to organize working time in a legal or conventional framework;

13.Calls on the Member States to introduce effective systems to combat all forms of social marginalization, implementing Parliament's resolution on adequate services and resources;

14.Calls on the Member States to resist the temptation to turn in on themselves and revert to protectionist measures, and regards a prompt GATT settlement and the completion of the internal market as growth factors for economic recovery;

15.Calls on the Member States to transpose into national law those single-market directives which can benefit employment, and calls on the Commission to monitor the process;

16.Calls for their employment, financial and economic policies to be better coordinated;

17.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.