Read the “Think Global – Act European” (TGAE II) report.


SELECTED RECOMMENDΑTIONS TO THE SPΑNISH, BELGIΑN AND HUNGΑRIΑN TRIO PRESIDEΝCY (p. 276):

1. Ensure that the new General affairs Council – chaired by the Trio Presidency – fulfils the role of a strategic coordinator of policy-making in the EU.

2. Focus on improving European economic governance and strengthening Economic and Monetary Union within a broadened framework of macroeconomic coordination and surveillance.

3. Endorse a highly constructive role for the Ecofin presidency, along with a pro-active Commission and a strong Eurogroup chair, in order to foster better economic coordination.

4. Maintain the momentum for reform of financial-market regulation, specifically through close coordination with the G20.

5. Strengthen EU influence through a single representation in international bodies, starting with the Eurogroup, in the institutions and forums of world economic governance (G20, IMF, World Bank).

6. Ensure that the EU-2020 Strategy, integrating social, environmental and growth objectives, rests on an in-depth diagnosis of the economic crisis and its social impact. Striving for quick agreement should not take precedence over the need to build a solid political consensus.

7. Identify complementary EU initiatives within a framework of Europeanwide employment policies in order to better meet the challenge of high unemployment.

8. Build an internal European energy market supported by a Europe-wide infrastructure network.

9. Complement the EU climate change strategy by a transport and climate change package, major initiatives on clean coal technologies, and an increase in carbon prices, with the aim of preserving the credibility of the EU’s emissions trading scheme.

10. Guarantee that cooperation with third countries concerning illegal immigration and pre-border controls does not undermine the right of asylum and other human rights obligations.

11. Work with the United States towards shared priorities on counter-terrorism, specifically on aid for North and West africa as well as stabilising Pakistan.

12. Help the High Representative set up a European External action Service (EEaS) that adds real value to EU foreign policy. The EEaS should be given the means to deliver high-quality political reporting and to tackle energy, migration, and security issues.

13. Contribute to a peaceful debate on enlargement in order to maintain the issue high on the agenda, with a clearer roadmap, and to make sure that the momentum for reform in the countries applying for accession is not damaged.

14. Encourage intensified dialogue with national parliaments in order to foster constructive attitudes in a way that allows EU affairs to enter the national political scene earlier in the policy-making process.

15. Start the debate on the revision of the EU budget with a clear understanding of political priorities and common principles, such as coherent and consistent EU funding for traditional policies (particularly Cohesion and agriculture) and for new priorities (such as the EU-2020 Strategy); work on overcoming the net-contributor logic, linking revenue and spending sides and reforming the Common agriculture Policy beforehand.