European Commission
Malmström

It is now calm in the building opposite the Commission and already last night we got the news from the summit that they had reached an agreement on the fiscal compact. I am very glad to see that Sweden chose to join, though Britain and the Czech Republic, unfortunately, chose to stand outside. The pact will be important in the long run as it puts high demands on Member States to comply with budget rules. The only drawback is that it is not an agreement endorsed by all Member States. In general, in the history of EU cooperation, intergovernmental agreements are not a satisfying solution.

What was even more important from the summit was the discussion about growth and youth unemployment in Europe. All Member States must now prepare a National Job Plan to focus efforts on youth unemployment. The Commission also proposed that all countries should have a Youth Guarantee, similar to the Swedish model, which ensures that all young people are either in a job, in training or in education within 4 months of leaving school. The Commission will also send experts to the eight countries most affected by this problem to see if there is a better way to use the Social Funds to improve job opportunities for young people.

One focal point of the discussions was the internal market where Member States affirmed that completing the Digital Single Market by 2015 is a priority. Creating easier access to finance for small businesses was also suggested during the meeting. It is good that the summit – at last – focused on growth. Austerity and fiscal pacts are all very well but there’s been too much talk about institutional issues and far too little about how we get the wheels rolling again. Starting from this afternoon, the College of Commissioners has a two-day meeting where we will have a follow up to the summit conclusions and continue to talk about growth measures and labour migration.

The fog descends over Brussels. Small snowflakes are falling and it’s cold. A general strike is declared, which means that buses, trains, subways, banks, some shops etc. are closed, so it’s pretty quiet here in Brussels. Many valiant co-workers have walked for over an hour in the cold to get to work today.

The EU Summit has begun. Heads of State and Government have just gone into the Justus Lipsus building opposite the Commission building. Expectations are fairly subdued; we seem to have had a flood of Summits recently. An agreement is expected on the fiscal compact. There have been intensive negotiations and now it seems that most countries feel that they can participate. I’m very happy about the deal struck between the Swedish Government and the Social Democrats of Sweden on joining the pact. It is always better to influence and have a seat at the table, and even if Sweden doesn’t have the Euro as its currency, as a country it too is deeply affected by developments in the eurozone.

The economic situation will of course be discussed as well as unemployment and how we can stimulate growth. It is essential that we now leave the navel-gazing and the minute drafting of the fiscal compact, which will only have an effect only in the long term; and focus discussions on growth, growth, growth. The youth unemployment rate in Spain for example is 40%, so it’s not like we don’t have things to talk about.

In the US, the Republicans’ choice for presidential candidate remains open.  Mitt Romney is now looking likely to being Obama’s rival candidate, although it is far from settled. Many of us remember the last presidential campaign and the promise made by Obama that he would close Guantanamo and make sure that each and every prisoner there would get a fair trial. Today it is exactly ten years since the first prisoners were taken to Guantanamo, and four of which have been under the Obama administration. The inhuman conditions of Guantanamo Bay and alleged lack of respect for fundamental rights for its prisoners is truly unacceptable for a nation which promotes freedom and democracy and the protection of human rights around the world. Guantanamo is in many ways a symbolic issue, making it ever more important that Obama keeps his promise.

At the Commission meeting today we discussed the economic crisis and the negotiations on the Agreement on financial stability, the so called “fiscal compact”. The actual drafting of the text has proved harder than expected by those present the night of the summit 9th December. Progress is being made but there is still a lot that needs to be clarified. It is, unfortunately, an intergovernmental agreement, but the Commission is also involved in the negotiations with the aim to that the so-called Community method should be respected and that as many countries as possible can participate.

We also talked about the situation in Hungary, where many of the new laws adopted raise serious concerns, such as those relating to the judges’ independence and the Central Bank independence. Even within the other so-called cardinal laws, there is a lot which does not quite feel compatible with European law and our common values. Our lawyers are now analyzing the laws in detail after receiving the Hungarian translations, and we will decide next week what measures are appropriate.

In a few minutes the Commission is leaving for Copenhagen to meet with the Danish Presidency. We’ll talk about priorities for the Spring – the key word now, and for the foreseeable future, is growth. Working towards this, a big priority on my horizon is to make it easier for companies to recruit experts to Europe, when particular skills cannot be found here. 

Current rules are cumbersome, for example, if a large international company like IBM needs an IT specialist for a project in Belgium they must both apply for a work and a residence permit. This is a process that in most countries takes a very long time. If  IBM then would like to move the expert to a new project in neighbouring Netherlands, for example, they must redo the entire process. If businesses are to grow they not only need the right staff and skills, but also simplified bureacracy. I have therefore presented a proposal to simplify the process through harmonization across the EU. But unfortunately it has taken longer than expected to agree on this proposal. It concerns 17, 500 people for the whole of EU, people with skills that are not found within the EU today and people that the companies are in desperate need of. Each of these are important for growth and investments. I now hope that, together with the Danish Presidency, we will be able to come to an agreement at EU level.

After the Christmas holidays, we are now back up to full speed in the European institutions. Yesterday I took the morning train to London to attend a meeting with Liberal politicians, hosted by Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. The Dutch and Estonian Prime Ministers, the German Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy Prime Ministers of Denmark, Cyprus, Belgium and Sweden, the Head of Government of Catalonia, the liberal ministers from the British coalition government, the Liberal leader in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, the Chairman of the liberal European party ELDR, Graham Watson, and some of my liberal colleagues in the Commission were all there. We gathered for an all day meeting that went on into the evening, to discuss the economic crisis, the euro pact and Britain’s role, growth issues, the long-term budget and the alarming situation in Hungary. We hope that the design of the agreement from the European Council last December, the so called “fiscal compact” should be such that all countries can join, including the UK. Nick Clegg shares this sentiment. The work on the final text is ongoing.

Today we received the news that the two imprisoned Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson have chosen not to appeal the ruling sentencing them to 11 years in prison for supporting terrorism in Ethiopia. The two journalists have admitted that they entered the country illegally but deny allegations of terrorist crimes. You might expect an innocent man to appeal such a ruling. But the choice not to appeal could be strategic, as an appeal would take even longer than securing a pardon. The Swedish government are in dialogue with Ethiopia and also the EU is watching Ethiopia and will continue to work for the release of Martin and Johan and for the full respect of press freedom – one of the cornerstones of a democratic state. Just before Christmas, the Committee to Protect Journalists published a report on the number of journalists imprisoned. These are worrying figures. I also hope that 2012 is the year Dawit Isaak will be released and reunited with his family.