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3 European Leaders Agree on Economic Plan
By JOHN LEICESTER
The Associated Press
Thursday, February 19, 2004; 4:10 AM
BERLIN - Seeking to kick-start Europe's ambitions of rivaling the economic might of the United States, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain agreed in a summit that the continent must slash red tape, spur research on new technologies and keep people in work.
But the meeting Wednesday of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair also produced a sobering warning for Europeans deeply protective of their generous health and welfare systems: Reforms are vital because the "old" continent's population is aging dramatically and that threatens to push welfare and pension bills sky-high.
The issue is a hot-button one in many European countries, with reforms having provoked street protests and strikes from France to Austria, Germany to Italy. But Schroeder said change was inevitable, and Chirac warned that the situation would be "totally dramatic in the 20 years to come" if nothing is done.
"We must change the social security systems," said Schroeder. "Only if we change them will we be able to keep them; only if we change them will they be affordable."
The summit at the chancellery in Berlin came at a crucial time for the European Union, deadlocked in efforts to give itself a constitution as 10 new members - mostly former communist nations of eastern Europe - line up to join on May 1, raising membership to 25 countries.
Demonstrating unity after their disagreements last year over Iraq, Schroeder, Chirac and Blair dismissed fears among countries not invited to their summit that they were ganging up to dictate the agenda of the expanding EU.
"Let's be frank about this, we came together after a very difficult period in international relations when we were on different sides of a particular issue," said Blair, referring to the Iraq war, which he supported but Chirac and Schroeder opposed.
Noting that their three countries comprise almost half of Europe's population and more than half of its wealth, the British prime minister added: "If we can come to clear agreements on the way forward to make our economies work better in the future, that is a good thing for our three countries but also it is a good thing for Europe and there shouldn't be any, in my view, sensitivity about this."
Some EU nations are concerned that the big three will rule the roost in the 25-member EU, and that they will merely be left to implement policies hammered out by Paris, London and Berlin.
"Beware. Nobody in Europe is ready to be a second-class citizen. Europe is made up of 25 countries, not of three," Italy's European affairs minister, Rocco Buttiglione, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio shortly before the summit.
But others argue that the EU could get bogged down in endless debate if bigger countries don't lead the way in decision-making.
The three leaders called for the appointment of a new EU official to push Europe toward its ambitious goal of becoming the world's most dynamic economy this decade, although they also acknowledged that for the moment "growth and productivity in Europe remain too weak."
While offering few specific solutions, they also called for renewed efforts to tackle problems that have dogged Europe for years: too little spending on research, bureaucratic hurdles to launching businesses, widespread early retirement.
France's social affairs minister, Francois Fillon, said that by speaking with one voice on the need for painful social welfare reforms, the three countries could help each other sell the need for change to their doubting citizens.
"These remain difficult subjects," the minister told The Associated Press. But "it's very useful to show that even if the social systems are the same and if there are different traditions, in the end the problems and the solutions are the same."
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