Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | DEVE | NEEDLE Clive John (PSE) | |
Opinion | RELA | DIMITRAKOPOULOS Giorgos (PPE) |
Legal Basis RoP 132
Activites
-
1997/04/28
Final act published in Official Journal
-
1997/04/11
Debate in Parliament
- Debate in Parliament
-
T4-0190/1997
summary
Adopting the report by Mr Clive NEEDLE (PSE, UK), the European Parliament saw the main purpose of regional economic integration among developing countries as being to reduce poverty and to promote sustainable economic, social and human development, whereby the integration of developing countries into the world economy was a means but not an end. Integration should be seen as a tool for economic promotion as well as a means of bringing people closer together and reinforcing peace. Parliament supported the Commission's efforts to monitor integration programmes but called for better coordination with the other donors and agencies involved. It considered that, where the conditions for integration were not in place, other forms of cooperation could be supported and that regional economic integration should be based on: - an understanding of regional specificities (historical, economic, political, social and institutional); - an evaluation of the degree to which the pre-requisites to economic integration were in place in the various regions of the developing world (as opposed to operational regional cooperation programmes); - a realistic evaluation of the timetable and stages in the regional cooperation process on which integration could be built. It also considered that efforts to achieve integration should include a whole range of preferential measures to support weaker economies. In this respect, Parliament considered it essential for integration agreements to allow countries to achieve greater economic and trade integration than the WTO required, provided that these liberalization agreements did not lead to increased protectionism against outsiders. It also felt that the impact on each country of abandoning unilateral preferences should be studied. It was also of the opinion that the increase in the number of regional organizations in Africa was resulting in a costly dispersion of effort and efficiency and called for support and backing for efforts to rationalize the current number of organizations, provided that the countries in question so wished. It also called for the Commission and the Member States only to support organizations capable of making a sustained contribution to improvement in these countries. Particular attention also needed to be paid to enhancing regional cooperation between the outermost regions of the Union and neighbouring territories. Parliament emphasized that regional economic integration could prove to be the best way of developing the Maghreb, the Mashrek and the Near East and called on the Commission to make provision for the application of cumulation of rules of origin to the main exports from the Mediterranean basin and for the procedures and provisions governing cumulation laid down in Lomé IV/2 to be simplified. It was also in favour of action which allowed these countries to make more flexible use of rules of origin and supported cumulation at sub-regional level. Parliament also called for an agency with greater environmental responsibility and for national economic reform programmes to take account of the regional dimension, vulnerable groups, women and children. Finally, the European Parliament called on the Commission to present a new report on a series of points not addressed in its document (infrastructures, political, cultural and ethnic aspects).�
- 1997/02/25 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
-
1995/07/10
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
-
1995/06/16
Non-legislative basic document published
-
COM(1995)0219
summary
OBJECTIVE: this communication deals with regional economic integration efforts among developing countries and the support which the Community can give to regional programmes, especially given its experience in this area and the positive effects which integration can have on these countries. A strategy is proposed to promote integration, including at the commercial level. CONTENT: the communication addresses the problem of regional integration, mainly from the economic point of view, and attempts to set it within the wider context of regional cooperation. The Commission sees regional integration as the most effective means of reducing obstacles to the free movement of goods, services, capital and people (abolition of tariff and non-tariff barriers and easier payments), whereas regional cooperation covers areas of common interest such as transport, telecommunications, the environment etc. As far as the regional integration of developing countries is concerned, it is clear from European experience that this depends on a number of factors: . complementary economies, geographical proximity and similar cultural and historical backgrounds; . political commitment, peace and security, respect for the rule of law and democracy; . a favourable economic climate and macro-economic stability; . strong and relatively flexible institutions allowing for different rates of progress ("variable geometry") and the efficient application of subsidiarity. The Union supports the regional integration of third countries and considers that it should come under both development cooperation policy and commercial policy. . At the commercial level, the Union plans to apply cumulative rules of origin to several groupings and to sign trade agreements subject to the implementation of regional liberalization measures; . At the cooperation level, 3 sets of measures are planned: - development of regional capacities, including training, research and technical assistance (with designing sectoral policies, harmonizing standards etc.), - adjustment aid to allow the private sector to exploit the new potential for integration, - in certain regions (sub-Saharan Africa in particular), support for governments which move along the path towards integration.�
-
COM(1995)0219
summary
Documents
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1995)0219
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0086/1997
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0190/1997
History
(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)
activities |
|
committees/0 |
|
committees/0 |
|
committees/1 |
|
committees/1 |
|
docs |
|
events |
|
links |
|
other |
|
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee |
Old
DEVE/4/06801New
|
procedure/legal_basis/0 |
Rules of Procedure EP 132
|
procedure/legal_basis/0 |
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 132
|
procedure/subject |
Old
New
|
activities |
|
committees |
|
links |
|
other |
|
procedure |
|