Broad guidelines of the economic policies of the Member States and the Community for 2000

The European Parliament adopted its report drafted by Giorgis KATIFORIS (PES, Greece) on the Commission's recommendation for the broad guidelines of the economic policies of the Member States for 2000. The Parliament regretted the democratic deficit in European economic policy and called for the broad guidelines to be decided on a proposal from the Commission rather than a recommendation. It welcomed the decision by the Commission to produce an operational content to the conclusions of the Lisbon Council. In general terms, Parliament believes that it is possible to reduce the level of taxation in many Member States and that social security systems need to be overhauled, so as to reduce the tax burden on job creation. It warned against using public investment as a means of managing demand in the economy as experience shows that this might be counterproductive. It urged those Member States lagging behind with structural reforms to increase the effectiveness of the markets for products, services, capital and labour. Parliament is very supportive of the transition to a knowledge-based economy and expressed its surprise at the scant mention of any information-highway construction projects, such as satellite communication, or TEN projects. It also expressed its concern at the gap between the aims of full employment and transition to a knowledge-based economy on the one hand and the often largely routine policy specific policy recommendations on the other, and called for a drastic renewal of the intellectual apparatus behind economic policy making.�