EC/Czech Republic Europe agreement: state aids and ECSC products

The committee unanimously approved the draft legislative resolution which had obtained Parliament's assent to the Commission's proposal on the implementation of the provisions of the association agreement between the European Union and the Czech Republic. The rapporteur, Mr SCHWAIGER (PPE, A), welcomed Council's decision to consult Parliament, thus rejecting the original legal basis chosen by the Commission whereby no such consultation would have been needed, and stressed the political and economic importance of the proposal. In fact, harmonization of the rules for defining and controlling state aid aimed to guarantee fair trade in ECSC products between the two trading partners, while bringing the legal structures of the CEEC into line with the Community model in the area of competition facilitated the joint process of rapprochement between the European Union and the CEEC with a view to their accession. The rapporteur therefore recommended a legal basis similar to that presently being introduced in the Czech Republic for all associated countries which had applied to join the European Union.�