TIME FOR A CHANGE

(The European, 23-29 September 1994)

The European Union is entering a period of change, with fresh faces in Brussels and Strasbourg. More than 60 per cent of the MFPs who won seats at the June elections are in office for the first time. A new Conunission president, Jacques Santer, takes over in the new year, ending a decade dominated by his predecessor Jacques Delors. While many member states are still led by the same old faces, their thinking should be enlivened by the arrival of up to four new countries in January.

The new leadership has an opportunity to promote policies offering practical, solutions to the problems facing Europe's businesses and people. But this chance will be wasted if the elected representatives and officials become as obsessed as many of their predecessors were with dreaming up political grand designs.

The role of the European Parliament will be crucial. Klaus Hänsch, the Parliament's president, should receive the greatest praise for introducing long-overdue reforms, including those to speed up business and hold votes after debates. MEPs are rightly determined to exercise the new powers they received under the Maastricht treaty and made their intentions clear in July by endorsing Santer's nomination only by the narrowest of majorities. The extension of their authority could be an important development of European democracy. But they should exercise it with care; they would not enhance their credibility by rejecting the new Commission just to show their determination to flex their muscles.

MEPs should rather devote their energies to scrutinising the proposals of the Commission and Council of Ministers, and trying to end the culture of secrecy which still permeates the corridors of power in Brussels. The Commission, too, must become a rather different institution under Santer. It must put forward measures that will make the Union work more effectively and efficiently.

Nowhere is this more important than in providing new impetus to the single market. The breaking down of national barriers to trade in goods and services will be Delors' most lasting reform. But the momentum has slackened as some governments have been less than eager to turn the rhetoric into reality. State-run airlines, steel companies and car manufacturers are too often still the beneficiaries of subsidies that are against the spirit of the Single Act, although technically within the law.

Some 62 barriers to the free movement of goods and services have been identified. These include different national standards and the refusal to recognise qualifications from other member states. The Commission and Parliament will win many friends if they keep up the pressure to bring down these barriers.

The cmnpaign to make Europe more competitive should also be intensified. There is now much wider support for the case that imposing high non-wage costs on employers is a deterrent to recruitment and makes it harder for European companies to compete internationally. But Delors' jobs package still pays too much attention to major projects which will make little short-term impact on the unemployment queues.

Brussels must take a more active role on environmental isssues. As "the European" has reported, some countries are trying to delay the implementation of directives in such areas as the treatment and disposal of waste water. This is not an area for subsidiarity - pollution is no respecter of national borders.

The Union also needs much more lucid thinking about its external policies. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have been offered eventual membership. But these countries cannot modernise their economies unless they are allowed access to European markets.

Member states have also made little progress in devising a common foreign policy, a failing demonstrated by their response to the civil war in former Yugoslavia. In these circumstances, it would be foolish to allow Nato to wither away because of its failure to find a role after the end of the Cold War. Manfred Wörner's successor must have the intellect and political presence to end the bickering with the Western European Union over who should be responsible for the Union's defence.

The European Union is entering a critical period which could either make or break the reputation of its institutions. This is a marvellous opportunity for the institutions to get back in tune with their people. Let us hope that they take it.