What are the priority actions needed for the EU to achieve the goal of cutting red tape by 25% by 2012?
The EPP-ED supports any measure designed to reduce bureaucracy, cut red tape and simplify legislation. The Barosso Commission has already put better regulation at the centre of its policy-making, and we welcome this. We believe the Commission must concentrate on key pieces of legislation, and should only propose legislation that is both necessary and cost-effective. The Commission has also put forward a number of simplification measures, including the repeal of outdated or unnecessary laws. Impact assessments are absolutely crucial if we are to clarify whether new legislation is really necessary, and whether it will reduce rather than increase costs.
What’s the best way to ensure the EU has a competitive energy market while safeguarding security of supply and new entrants’ access to it?
We favour the prudent energy market liberalisation policy that has been pursued by the EU in recent years. Recent experience in several member states has shown that opening the market to competition, while often a good thing in itself, is not enough on its own to bring down energy prices and improve services to the consumer. The European energy market also has a number of particularities: consumers have a difficult time switching operators; fixed and administrative costs as well as the cost of infrastructures, are high; measures to strengthen competition seem to conflict with the trend towards mergers that allow bigger energy companies to negotiate better contracts with third-country suppliers. Unbundling, meaning the separating of generating capacity from distribution networks, needs to be effective. Ownership unbundling can definitely help to achieve this target and many member states have followed this line, some with success. But it is not in itself a guarantee of effective competition in itself. The independent system operators' model is an alternative that we believe would bring about almost the same result. Whatever option is pursued, there will always be a need for regulation. So it is vital that the powers of national regulators should be harmonised and their independence safeguarded.
What’s the best way to tackle climate change, and how should this be balanced with the need to maintain competitiveness and economic growth?
The EU’s first priority should be to secure international agreement. The EU has set the pace, and now all the major economic players, including newly industrialised countries such as China and India, must be brought on board. Second, measures to reduce C02 emissions in the production of electricity, transport, lighting buildings, heating/cooling and electronic equipment, must be taken at all levels. Most innovative low-energy products come from Europe, and worldwide trend towards saving energy and reducing C02 emissions would also be positive for the EU economy. By leading the world in producing clean and fuel-efficient cars, low-energy fridges, renewable energies and modern power station technology, the EU could actually improve its competitiveness.
How much of the constitution do you think should be retained if there is a new intergovernmental conference under the Portuguese Presidency? And how long should the IGC last?
I strongly support Chancellor Angela Merkel's ambitions to revive the EU Constitution. The EPP-ED group has long been clear that the Nice Treaty is not a sufficient basis for the future of Europe. In 2002 we set up a Convention to draft a new treaty because of the serious shortcomings of the Nice Treaty. A solution was seen then as urgent for an EU of 15 member states, so how could it be less urgent now that there are 27? EPP-ED members believe a new intergovernmental conference (IGC) under the Portuguese Presidency should refrain as much as possible from the present draft Constitution. This would ensure that the EU would be more democratic, open and closer to the citizens. We want the broad substance of the Constitution, including the expression of our common values, to come into force before the European Parliament elections in June 2009. To do this the IGC should ideally be completed by the end of this year.
What priority actions are needed to develop a truly common immigration policy?
Immigration policy has only recently become an EU competence, and implementation of many of the policy elements has yet to be translated into effective action on the ground. The EU’s border control agency Frontex should play a key part in the EU’s response to immigration, with border Intervention Teams also making a major contribution. Agreeing the proposed Directive on returning illegal immigrants would help improve the EU’s approach to immigration because that would strengthen the incentives for legal immigration. Using the early warning system for member states considering amnesties for illegal immigrants could help prevent a repeat of the disaster caused by the Spanish Socialist government's mass regularisation programme in 2005. The system needs time to settle down as new visa databases come on stream in the next few years.
What more could Europe do to protect its critical infrastructure and borders? How can we improve common policies for the fight against terrorism?
We should develop a more comprehensive approach to Homeland Security, including the protection of critical infrastructure and also the EU’s external borders. Effective border protection requires a more coordinated approach to equipment procurement for border police forces and a joint European approach for integrated management of border surveillance. It doesn't make sense to use EU funds to procure equipment for border police authorities that is not compatible with the equipment of other authorities or other countries. The increasing overlap between military and civilian tasks in the field of security and defence also means we should agree joint technical standards for the telecommunication systems of the armed forces, police and disaster control services. In Finland today, the armed forces, police and disaster control services can encrypt their telecommunications independently, but they can also communicate with each other when they need to.
We also have to achieve the surveillance of our external borders without erecting a new "Berlin Wall" that would divide neighbourhoods, handicap trade and disadvantage populations living near those borders. This double goal of protecting ourselves from external threats while remaining open can only be achieved by a very close co-operation with neighbouring countries.
Joseph Daul was interviewed for Europe’s World by journalist Simon Taylor. This section is supported by the EPP-ED Group (http://www.epp-ed.eu).