| Declaration of the ministers and Secretaries of State responsible for European affairs of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia adopted in Warsaw on 26th of September 2008. The Ministers and Secretaries of State responsible for European affairs of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, convened in Warsaw on 26th of September 2008, Following good cooperation between their countries, Having in mind the upcoming challenges the European Union will be facing in the following months,
Willing to share common responsibility and participate in sound development of European Union,
Declaring the willingness to reach a common position on key issues, have agreed as follows: I 1. The Ministers and Secretaries of State, bearing in mind the complexity of the energy and climate change issues with far-reaching consequences, call upon the Energy Council to hold a profound discussion on the balance between the three EU energy policy pillars. 2. The Ministers and Secretaries of State confirm their readiness to complete works on the Climate and Energy Package in due time for post-2012 agreement on climate change at Copenhagen in 2009. Furthermore, the Ministers and Secretaries of State wish to express their common opinion that each EU Member State’s situation should be fully taken into account and each individual proposal should be subjected to due consideration. This approach would be necessary to give a positive communication on the international arena. 3. Taking into the account the situation in world energy markets, the Ministers and Secretaries of State emphasise that the challenging objectives defined in the Climate and Energy Package, in particular greenhouse gas emissions reduction plans and the increased share of renewable energy sources, should be attained in a cost-effective manner to minimise the burden on the economies of the EU Member States, in particular those still undergoing the process of economic and social convergence. 4. The Ministers and Secretaries of State believe that due to the possibility of considerable increases in the electricity prices, a gradual approach to the auctioning in the energy generation sector should be adopted. 5. The Ministers and Secretaries of State are of the opinion that the specific situation of less affluent Member States should be taken into account. Therefore the redistribution of allowances for emissions based on GDP factor should be extended beyond the proposal of the European Commission. 6. The Ministers and Secretaries of State recall that the achievements of the various Member States vis-á-vis their commitment under the Kyoto Protocol should be recognised. The Ministers and Secretaries of State agree that the final allocation scheme of emission reduction efforts (including those under and outside the Emission Trading Scheme) should also reflect the contribution to the common goals by those Member States that have already undertaken significant reductions compared to their emission levels under the Kyoto Protocol first commitment period. 7. In addition, the Ministers and Secretaries of State declare their support for the solutions, which can reduce the negative impact of the Climate and Energy Package on the energy security of the Member States, external competitiveness of the European industry, labour market and financial situation of households. 8. Therefore, the Ministers and Secretaries of State welcome the involvement of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council as well as the Competitiveness Council in the discussions on the Energy and Climate Package. Further discussions on important element of the package would facilitate better identification of the Climate and Energy Package effects on the EU Member States’ economies, particularly in the context of the recent economic developments. 9. The Ministers and Secretaries of State believe also that the strive to reduce greenhouse gases emission and increase in use of energy from renewable sources should not adversely affect the Treaty-guaranteed right of the Member States to independently choose between different energy sources and define the general structure of their supply in energy. 10. The Climate and Energy Package will significantly increase the demand for the imported natural gas in some of the Member States, thus enhancing their dependence on external sources of energy. The Ministers and Secretaries of State are of the opinion that the energy security problems should be better reflected in the Climate and Energy Package. In addition, the Ministers and Secretaries of State underline that the European Union should speak with one voice on energy matters and believe that European Commission should act ambitiously in the field of secure supplies of energy resources and should propose solutions equally challenging as those proposed in the Climate and Energy Package. 11. An efficient and effective energy market in the European Union would allow limitation of energy prices growth which will result from the costs of implementing the climate policy. Therefore, the Ministers and Secretaries of State believe that it is necessary for the Council to work closely with the European Parliament and come to an agreement on the third energy liberalisation package. II 12. The Ministers and Secretaries of State have decided to submit the text of the adopted declaration to the French Presidency. Ol`ga ALGAYEROVÁ
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic Mikołaj DOWGIELEWICZ
Secretary of State in the Office of the Committee for European Integration of the Republic of Poland Gergana Hristova GRANCHAROVA
Minister for European Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Gábor IVÁN
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary
Raduta Dana MATACHE
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania
* * *
Declaration of the ministers and Secretaries of State responsible for European affairs of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia adopted in Warsaw on 26th of September 2008 The Ministers and Secretaries of State responsible for European affairs of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, convened in Warsaw on 26th of September 2008, Following good cooperation between their countries,
Having in mind the upcoming challenges the European Union will be facing in the following months,
Willing to share common responsibility and participate on sound development of European Union,
Declaring the willingness to reach a common position on key issues, have agreed as follows: I 1. The Ministers and Secretaries of State believe that the Eastern Partnership, development of which was approved by the June European Council, will be a major instrument for political and economic rapprochement of the Eastern Partners with the EU, building stability and prosperity in the region and for supporting their efforts in reforms towards alignment with EU legislation, standards and norms. 2. The Ministers and Secretaries of State support formation of the Eastern Partnership based on bilateral cooperation of the EU with its Eastern neighbours and establishment of a new multilateral cooperation in politics and security, borders and movement of persons, economy and finance, as well as environment and social issues. The multilateral cooperation in the framework of Eastern Partnership will be complementary with regional cooperation developed within Black Sea Synergy initiative. Both initiatives should be mutually reinforcing. 3. The Ministers and Secretaries of State hope that the European Union, in line with the conclusions of the European Council of 1st September 2008, will accelerate works on the Eastern Partnership to start its swift implementation and foster cooperation with the Eastern Partners. II 4. The Ministers’ and Secretaries’ of State position is that the European Union should ensure the balance and positive interaction between economic liberty and social security. This is in the centre of the Renewed Social Agenda titled: Opportunities, access and solidarity in the 21st century Europe. 5. The Ministers and Secretaries of State support improvements in the field of posting of workers. The Ministers and Secretaries of State emphasized that at the moment the attention should be focused on actions towards a better administrative cooperation and elimination of still existing barriers and hindrances in this regard, which can be achieved in the framework of Community legal regulations in force. 6. The Ministers and Secretaries of State support the initiatives aiming at harmonisation of the Community asylum systems and welcome the ongoing work on managing legal and combating illegal immigration. The issue of immigration from third countries should be addressed with due consideration to the fact that the access to the labour markets of some Member States is still restricted for nationals of the states who joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. III 7. The recent developments in agricultural prices have led to significant reductions in budgetary spending for intervention measures in agriculture market. Thus, the appearance of substantial budgetary margin creates the availability of unspent Community financial resources and gives the floor for the question of whether there exist issues which would require an appropriate financial response. The Ministers and Secretaries of State support the approach that any financial resources released within CAP (both permanently or by reason of a temporary lack of necessity to use them) should definitely stay within the framework of agricultural allocations of the EU budget, i.e. Title 05 Agriculture and Rural Development. IV 8. The Ministers and Secretaries of State have decided to submit the text of the adopted declaration to the French Presidency. Ol`ga ALGAYEROVÁ
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic Mikołaj DOWGIELEWICZ
Secretary of State in the Office of the Committee for European Integration of the Republic of Poland Gergana Hristova GRANCHAROVA
Minister for European Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Gábor IVÁN
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary Raduta Dana MATACHE
State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania
|