The progress achieved by the European Union. Report 1997

Antoinette Spaak (B, ELDR) for the committee is unhappy that Council has simply provided a list of its legislative and other activities in its report on progress achieved by the EU in 1997 and has made no political assessment of the situation. She argues that there should be a frank dialogue between Council and Parliament to enable them to wield effective influence over EU activities and she calls on Council to reply to the comments put forward in Parliament's resolution for the preceding year. Mrs Spaak goes on to call for institutional reform to take place before any enlargement, and is urging the Commission to undertake to draw up a preliminary draft reform plan by the end of the year. She welcomes EMU, agricultural and structural policy reform and enlargement and wants to see the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy which, she believes, should be more coherent and effective. Finally she wants to see an action plan to explore the political implications of the opportunities afforded by the new provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty.�