The progress achieved by the European Union. Report 1995

Hoping that public opinion might gain a better idea of the constructive cooperation between the EU institutions following a debate such as the one today, the rapporteur commented that Parliament’s proposals coincided with the Madrid Summit conclusions which were known by the name of Agenda 2000 and which had subsequently been clarified by the European Councils in Florence and Dublin. He stressed the importance of the agreement on the single currency and the progress towards further enlargement, among other issues. He also cited, among Parliament’s priorities, the creation of a European legal area and the reinforcement of cooperation on internal policies, together with the launch of a strategy to combat terrorism and drug trafficking. Consolidation of the CFSP and the status of the European citizen was also needed. Commissioner Oreja firstly highlighted the Commission’s constant concern to locate citizenship at the heart of the European Union. In this respect, the Commission wanted to eliminate any obstacles to the free movement of persons and to bring cooperation on legal and internal affairs under Community responsibility. It also wanted to make the EU’s decision-making process simpler and more democratic by extending codecision to all Community legislation. Finally, as regards the CFSP, qualified majority voting should be extended to this area, a common analysis unit needed to be created and a security and defence identity should be built up.