Uformelt møde i Det Europæiske Råd i Bruxelles den 23. maj 2012 - Bilag 1: Hyrdebrev til uformelt møde i Det Europæiske Råd den 23. maj 2012

Invitation letter of President Van Rompuy to theInformal dinner of the members of the European CouncilI look forward to seeing you at our informal dinner on 23 May. The reason I called thismeeting is very simple. A lot has happened since we last met at the beginning of Marchand this is the appropriate time to hold an open and informal exchange of views among uson how we can boost growth and jobs across the EU. The idea is not at this stage to drawconclusions or take decisions but to prepare politically for decisions at the June EuropeanCouncil in the best possible manner. If we have a common understanding on the mainelements of a growth agenda at the end of our dinner, we can move things forward so thatwe can take decisions in June.Over the past two or three years we have put in place a comprehensive strategy forsustainable growth containing various key elements: crisis management measures, fiscalconsolidation, regulatory reform, and structural reforms in the framework of the Europe2020 Strategy. Some of these elements have been more visible (and at times painful), whileothers are less visible and will only bear fruit over time. We have to stay the coursebecause there are no quick fix solutions. That is why I insist so much on implementingwhat we have already decided, as I did in my letter of 26 April. But it is also true that thetime has come to put more emphasis on the measures more directly linked to encouraginggrowth and jobs, in the continuation of our January summit, and to discuss in the mostconstructive manner innovative, or even controversial, ideas.In line with the above, I suggest to focus our dinner on the following building blocks for astrategy for growth, which are also convincingly set out in the Commission's 9 Maycommunication:

•Sound national economic policies: the European Semester, including the “Six Pack”,constitutes the cornerstone for maintaining a growth-friendly fiscal consolidationstrategy and for avoiding macro-economic slippages. Together with other legalinstruments, it provides us with the right framework to ensure that fiscal consolidationand growth mutually reinforce each other. The President of the Commission could inthis context provide us with a preliminary assessment of the National ReformProgrammes (including the measures taken under the Euro Plus Pact) and look ahead tothe package of proposals the Commission will adopt on 30 May.•EU policies bringing added value: here, the emphasis is primarily on the measuresforeseen under the Single Market Act programme, which the Danish Presidency pushesforward as much as possible and where your help is needed to overcome obstacles in thesectoral Council formations. I highlighted some of the key files in my April letter, butlet me here just repeat how important it is that we finally complete work on theEuropean patent, where only the seat problem remains. The Energy Efficiency Directiveis another crucial dossier on which we must ensure rapid progress. I would also mentiontrade as a provider of growth and jobs. The EU is in the process of negotiating majoragreements with important partners. There are of course delicate issues involved hererelating to specific sectors, but at the same time the EU as the leading exporter in theworld has a lot to gain from opening new markets.•Measures improving the financing of the economy: under this heading, variousinteresting ideas have been floated over the past months and some of them are alreadybeing actively pursued. I would mention first the EIB, which could be better mobilizedto support SMEs and key infrastructure through an increase in its capital and astrengthening of existing joint instruments (Risk Sharing Finance Facility; Loanguarantee for Transport). It is also urgent to put into place the Project Bond pilot phase.More generally, EU structural funds should be better focused on competitiveness andconvergence. There is scope to do this already now, but we should also ensure in theupcoming MFF negotiations that EU funds are better geared to help growth and jobs.Then we have the difficult issue of a possible FTT. I am fully aware of the divergencesof views there are on this subject, but we should not shrink from exchanging views andhopefully finding a pragmatic way forward.•Measures to strengthen job-creation: this relates both to national and EU policies. Inorder to promote a job-rich recovery we will need to make concrete reforms and takemeasures to support labour demand and job-creation in key sectors of the economy.Reforms must go hand-in-hand with investment – EU funds can play an important rolein this regard. We must further use the European Semester to reinforce the coordinationof our employment policies. National Job Plans should be fully used to better stimulatesynergies between national and European instruments. In this connection, the Presidentof the Commission will inform us on the work the Commission is carrying out witheight Member States who have particularly high youth unemployment. More generally,we should look at ways of overcoming the “skills mismatch” and the “geographicmismatch”. We should for instance develop the EURES portal into a Europeanemployment services, improve the recognition of professional qualifications, bettersupport mobile workers, facilitate the portability of pension and other rights andsystematically chart future skills needs.

Since we are not going to take any final decisions on any of these themes at our informaldinner, I encourage you to engage in as open and frank an exchange as possible, with aview to moving ahead efficiently and constructively towards a credible package in June. Inthis context, I also believe that there should be no taboos concerning the longer termperspective. It is not too early to think ahead and to reflect on possible more fundamentalchanges within the EMU. In many ways, the perspective of moving towards a moreintegrated system would increase confidence in the euro and the European economygenerally.At the very end of our dinner, I propose that we discuss recent developments in theeurozone.I very much look forward to greeting you in Brussels on 23 May.