horizontal objective

If these criteria are not satisfied, there is still horizontal Objective 3.

Of these, two are regional objectives and one a horizontal objective dedicated to human resources.

To these forms of aid must be added appropriations under the horizontal objectives and Community initiative programmes.

There was also a promise to redirect state aid to horizontal objectives that benefited the Union as a whole.

These measures are supplemented by horizontal objectives 3 and 4 and Community initiative programmes.

They particularly advocate redeploying aid towards the horizontal objectives.

Another point of agreement of great political importance concerns the fact that state aid should, as laid down by the Treaty, focus on horizontal objectives.

It is therefore a quite particular success on Parliament’s part that at least the horizontal objective of sustainable development is enshrined in the regulation.

In this context, the opportunity for recourse to state aid in order to achieve these horizontal objectives should be reiterated.

Thirdly, we will not single out the Commission for specific criticism over underspending or for its failure to address the horizontal objectives sufficiently.

On the other hand, it promotes a strategy of horizontal objectives for State aid defined at Community level, especially, once again in the name of so-called innovation.

During the public hearing last November, when culture and cohesion policy were discussed, the interesting suggestion emerged of an objective 7 devoted to culture, a horizontal objective.

The Commission’s aims to investigate and clarify the Community’s R[amp]D state aid system and target such aid at horizontal objectives are very important and welcome.

The ratification of the Treaty of Amsterdam will certainly help us to do that as we will have firm legal bases that establish mainstreaming as a fundamental and horizontal objective.

Although the subsidiarity principle has been adhered to, the continual expansion of the European employment strategy, from horizontal objectives to the Four Pillars, has led to constant reductions in its effectiveness.

In these guidelines, the European Council will include a new horizontal objective on the quality of employment and will also adopt a first list of agreed indicators for the quality of employment.

We have again set a horizontal objective for the new period for the Structural Funds, requiring lists to be drawn up even during ex-ante evaluations, setting out and calculating how these special programmes will affect the labour market situation.

The Barcelona Council of March 2002 confirmed this intention, calling on Member States to redirect such aid towards horizontal objectives of common interest, including economic and social cohesion, and target it to identified market failures.

On the other hand, it is a matter for regret that the Commission has apparently not adopted, at present, the idea of extensive territorialization of resources to promote employment, which, it seems, are to remain linked to a horizontal objective.

I have repeatedly said that Member State development, supported by European Union money, and improving quality of life would be more effective if we used the planning method more efficiently and ensured that horizontal objectives are achieved using money from different funds.

The current system, relying on Member States' numerous overlapping, and sometimes conflicting, bilateral investment agreements, should be replaced within a reasonable timeframe by a new framework of European Union investment agreements consistent with the horizontal objectives of EU policies.

Parliament and the Council have repeatedly and rightly insisted that the overall amount of State aids must be reduced and that, at the same time, State aids must be geared more to supporting horizontal objectives than to supporting, often artificially, specific sectors or single undertakings.

I believe that we must also take note of the fact that, whenever the Heads of State or Government meet in the European Council, they send out clear calls for state aid to be cut and channelled into horizontal objectives rather than into supporting any particular sectors or businesses.

In this respect, while reforming the programmes and the instruments for the next programming period, we should bring forward without distorting the markets the horizontal objectives of the Union such as gender equality, environmental protection, protection of the disabled, the sharing of best practice, the promotion of lasting quality employment and economic growth.