1998 ECSC operating budget

In adopting the report by Mr Jean-Antoine GIANSILY (UPE, F) on the draft ECSC operating budget Parliament noted that in the context of the expiry of ECSC Treaty in 2002 the Commission had the intention of ending the conversion policy in 1998. It considered that the Commission must extend certain programmes which it had already embarked upon, in particular the redeployment aid schemes. The loss of jobs in the coal and steel sectors would be of the order of 25 000 jobs per year. It also considered that other ECSC aid schemes, particularly the social measures for coal, would be all the more necessary as no further conversion loans could be granted after 23 July 1997. It therefore took the view that the ECSC budget must offset the loss of these aids by means of other aid schemes in particular those provided for by Articles 2, 56 and 95 of the ECSC Treaty. It therefore called on the Commission to: - abolish definitively the ECSC levy, as provided for by the Commission (and contrary to what had been requested by its rapporteur, Mr Giansily), since there would be no financial requirement after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty, - use in 1998 part of the reserves for a payment to the EIB with a view to establishing a special fund to support job-creating SMUs in industrial research sectors linked to coal and steel and in sectoral or regional areas connected with these industries. It took the view that these proposals were consistent with the resolution of the Amsterdam European Council on growth and employment which referred to the ECSC reserves as a financial instrument to help in the fight against unemployment in Europe. �