23 June 2017

European Council conclusions

Single Market

13. The European Council reiterates the importance of a well-functioning Single Market with its four freedoms in fostering growth, creating jobs and promoting investments and innovation. Co-legislators have made it possible to achieve significant progress towards the shared objective of completing and implementing the various strategies by 2018. There are nevertheless still gaps which require further attention. The European Council therefore emphasises that further efforts are needed from the EU and its Member States to achieve the level of ambition as reflected in the June 2016 conclusions for the Single Market, including on services, the Digital Single Market, the Capital Markets Union and the Energy Union, including interconnections. In this context it welcomes the Commission's mid-term review of the Digital Single Market and of the Capital Markets Union Action Plan. Timely implementation and better enforcement of existing legislation are also key to reaping the benefits of Europe's Single Market. The Council will report to the June 2018 European Council on progress in deepening, implementing and enforcing the Single Market in all its aspects. In order to look beyond the finalisation of the different Single Market strategies and evolve towards a future-proof and fair Single Market, the European Council calls on the Commission to pursue its reflections on innovative ways to address new opportunities, challenges and remaining barriers.

14. The European Council takes stock of the progress made on the European Fund for Strategic Investments and calls on the legislators to rapidly agree on the extension and reinforcement of the Fund.

Building on the Council conclusions of May 2017, which call for a future industrial policy strategy, the European Council underlines the essential role of industry as a major driver for growth, employment and innovation in Europe. In line with its own earlier conclusions, it calls for concrete action to ensure a strong and competitive industrial base of the Single Market.

Trade

16. The EU will pursue a robust trade policy upholding an open and rules-based multilateral trading system, with a central role for the WTO. Firm in the belief that trade contributes to creating wealth and jobs, it will keep markets open and fight protectionism. It will actively promote an ambitious free trade agenda on the global scene. To this end, it will seek to foster a truly level playing field, while remaining vigilant concerning the respect and promotion of key standards, including social, environmental, health and consumer standards that are central to the European way of life.

17. The European Council is convinced that trade and investment can only be free if it is also fair and mutually beneficial. The European Council therefore calls on the co-legislators to swiftly agree on modern, WTO-compatible trade defence instruments, which will reinforce the ability of the EU to effectively tackle unfair and discriminatory trade practices and market distortions. It calls on the Commission to ensure their swift and effective application through non-legislative implementing measures to make the EU trade practices and defence instruments more reactive and efficient and to propose, if necessary, complementary measures. It also calls on the Commission and the Council to deepen and take forward the debate on how to enhance reciprocity in the fields of public procurement and investment. In this context, it welcomes the Commission's initiative to harness globalisation and, inter alia, to analyse investments from third countries in strategic sectors, while fully respecting Members States' competences. The European Council will revert to this issue at one of its future meetings.

18. The European Council encourages progress on all ongoing negotiations, including with Mexico, Mercosur and the Asian-Pacific region, for ambitious and balanced free trade agreements, with reciprocity and mutual benefits as guiding principles. The European Council welcomes the progress achieved recently in the negotiations with Japan, which could pave the way for a political agreement.

European Semester

19. The European Council generally endorses the integrated country-specific recommendations as discussed by the Council, thus allowing the conclusion of the 2017 European Semester.

European Council conclusions

Remarks by President Donald Tusk after the European Council meetings on 22 and 23 June 

[...] Prime Minister May informed us that on Monday she will make her proposal on the rights of EU citizens in the UK. Citizens' rights are the number one priority for the EU27, and we have made our position clear. We want to ensure the full rights for EU and UK citizens after Brexit. My first impression is that the UK's offer is below our expectations, and that it risks worsening the situation of citizens. But it will be for our negotiating team to analyse the offer line by line, once we receive it on paper.

As a matter of fact, Brexit took up very little time at this European Council. We devoted most of our work to addressing people's concerns over security, illegal migration and uncontrolled globalisation.

This morning we met with the ECB President Draghi, who confirmed that things have changed for the better in the EU. There is a renewed hope in the European project, which positively impacts on our economy. This confidence translates into strong growth, more consumption, more investments, and above all, more jobs. In fact, we have the highest number of jobs ever recorded. I wanted to share with you this optimistic assessment of President Draghi, because it's the first time in many years that we have heard such good news.

Leaders also had a long debate about trade and the balance between openness and protection. Europe is and will remain open for business. But we agreed that Europe needs to better protect our people from unfair trade practices, for example by introducing more reciprocity. We agreed that the Commission will analyse investments from third countries in strategic sectors. [...]

Full remarks

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