The Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (the SER, a tripartite body consisting of the employer and trade union representatives and independent experts) published an opinion paper on 12 February 2003 concerning the social and economic issues currently under discussion in the Convention on the Future of Europe. The underlying philosophy of this opinion paper is that once it has been decided that the EU must act in a particular matter, there must be sufficient guarantees that it acts decisively, transparently and with democratic legitimacy. A proper set of instruments must be in place to assess whether action must be taken by the Community and in what form.
Subsidiarity and majority voting The SER has argued in favour of:
- Making the subsidiarity and proportionality test stricter. The European Commission must be made to produce more convincing evidence of the need for European legislation. Consideration should be given to setting up a committee of independent experts to advise the Commission in this regard. Ultimately, however, it is the political judgement of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament that is required. If national MPs are to have more opportunities to check up on "their" minister's performance in legislative matters, the Council must be more open in its dealings. It would not be a good idea to institute a Congress of the Peoples of Europe, made up of national and European MPs.
- Strengthening the Community method by applying majority voting in the Council linked to co-decision by the European Parliament as the rule when harmonising legislation. This would mean extending the European Parliament's budgetary authority to include agricultural expenditure and applying majority voting in the Council for all aspects of the common commercial policy.
- Extending majority voting to some specific areas of social and fiscal policy directly related to the functioning of the internal market.
With respect to social policy, this would involve the coordination of statutory social security for migrating workers, the harmonisation of rules protecting employees against dismissal in the Member States, and the social security entitlements of legally resident third-country nationals.
With respect to tax policy, majority voting would apply to the regulatory energy tax, the harmonisation of the assessment base of corporate income tax, and the fiscal treatment of cross-border pension schemes. It should also be resolved that once a particular component of a specific tax has been coordinated or harmonised, any future change in that component can only be decided by qualified majority.
Incorporation into the basic treaty
In the SER's opinion, the following elements should be included in the basic treaty:
- The open method of coordination.
- Promotion of the social dialogue between employers and employees, with respect for the autonomy of the social partners.
- The importance of protecting civil liberties and social rights. It is not a good idea to incorporate the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaty as is. Before the Charter can be included in the basic treaty, guarantees must be given that doing so will have absolutely no effect on the division of competences between the Union and the Member States. It must be made clear that the citizens cannot derive individual rights from the social principles laid down in the Charter.