Translation of "Antenne de poursuite à grande ouverture " (French → English) :

The Italian Government in particular could have a great interest in the further gradual opening up of rail networks, thus revitalising the rail sector and shifting more goods and passengers from road to rail.

The Italian Government in particular could have a great interest in the further gradual opening up of rail networks, thus revitalising the rail sector and shifting more goods and passengers from road to rail.

In his introductory statement, the President highlighted the main priorities of this programme : final preparations for the introduction of the euro, opening of substantive negotiations for enlargement on specific chapters with the first group of candidates, entering into substantial discussions on the Agenda 2000 package with a view to finding solutions, continuation of the dialogue on the Union's future, implementation of national employment plans and further development of the guidelines on employment policy, need for an active env ...[+++]ironment policy.

The Commissioner concluded on this point by saying that while considerable progress has been made there are a number of areas in which further initiatives might be taken with a view to ensuring a genuine and effective opening up of national public services. In particular : - the adoption of the regulation now pending before the Council on the "extension" of Regulation 1408/71 to special schemes for civil servants and persons treated as such; - comparative law studies should be launched into the major issues of principle, which could have serious consequences on the actual exercise of the right to freedom of movement in the public sector ...[+++] and which are not at present directly regulated by existing Community legislation; - an inventory needs to be drawn up of all the barriers (both overt and covert) which still stand in the way of exercise of the right to freedom of movement in the public sector in the different Member States; - preparation (and regular updates) of explanatory handbooks on the Community law applicable for the use of both individuals and the responsible national public services; - continuation and development of the exchanges of officials responsible for freedom of movement under the Karolus programme.

Moreover, this Council decision is part of the European growth initiative. The priority areas for action, which have already demonstrated their importance in underpinning the recovery in economic activity and employment and in facilitating the participation of European enterprises, in particular SMEs, in the large European market, are: - Improving the administrative and legal environment of enterprises, including in the field of indirect taxation, so as to reduce the costs imposed on SMEs by Community legislation (continuation of work on administrative simplification in conjunction with the Member States, assessment of the impact of Community legislation on enterprises, and improvement in the regular consultations with organizations represe ...[+++]nting SMEs); - Qualitative development of the Euro-Info-Centre (EIC) network: The principal task will be to improve the quality and relevance of information provided by the centres and to expand the network by strengthening the relay points of existing EICs and opening correspondence centres outside the Community; 1 COM(92) 470 final, 13 January 1993. - Qualitative development of confidential and non-confidential partner-search networks: The main aim will be to increase the capacity of the BRE networks (Business Cooperation Centre - non- confidential) and of the BC-Net (Business Cooperation Network - confidential) inside and outside the Community, to improve the quality of services provided and to intensify cooperation between the two networks; - Stepping up activities to put businessmen in direct contact with one another: This will involve continuing, improving and expanding the Europartenariat programmes (Objective 1 - regions whose development is lagging behind; Objective 2 - regions affected by industrial decline; Objective 5(b) - rural areas) and Interprise (all regions, with possible sectoral specialization) and to stimulate trans- national subcontracting following the Pan-European Forum on Subcontracting held in Madrid ...

It will also involve pressing ahead with some existing measures: the Commission intends, for example, to continue work in the field of intellectual property and data protection, to promote more extensive voluntary use of European standards in industry, and to focus SME support programmes on improving the participation of these businesses in the opening-up of markets.