Preparations are well underway for the introduction of the single currency on time despite the doubts expressed by its opponents over the past few years, the EU Commission President, Mr Jacques Santer, said in his annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg yesterday.
Referring to those not taking part, Mr Santer told MEPs in the European Parliament that for those who had "chosen not to join the single currency at the beginning, it is up to them to question the costs of being outside the currency and not part of a winning team".
He had always seen EMU as a means of stimulating growth and creating jobs, but he warned that growth alone would not be sufficient to solve the problem of unemployment. He said the target of 12 million jobs throughout the EU over the next five years, to be discussed at the November jobs summit, was perfectly realisable. A smaller EU of 12 member-states managed to set up 10 million new jobs and reduce employment by 3 per cent in the five years up to 1990.
The summit in Luxembourg would mark a new approach to employment by the EU. It was now up to Heads of State to fulfil their commitment to taking a joint approach.
As well as preparing the way for the successful introduction of the single currency the other challenge was the problem of enlargement in the future as set out in the Commission's document Agenda 2000. Almost half the Commission's new legislative proposals for 1998 were designed to put this process into action with a view to negotiating successful enlargement, strengthening the Union and improving its workings.
Mr Santer reaffirmed the two basic pillars of the present Union, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Regional and Social Funds. He said they would remain but would be reformed to take account of future needs.
There was a need, he said, to develop a stronger foreign policy. The Commission would make its own contribution but, he warned, "if there is no political will on the part of the member-states to develop a common foreign policy, the Commission's actions would be limited". It was this political will that would decide whether or not the EU would be successful in the future," he said.