27 Jan 2003
Addressing an audience of industrialists today in Glasgow, Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell revealed that preparation was underway for the "five tests" which would subject the UK's economy to the most rigorous analysis ever seen.
Speaking at a meeting of the Scottish Industry Forum, Helen Liddell said:
"The determining factor underpinning any Government recommendation on the Euro is whether it will serve the UK's national economic interests and whether the economic case is clear and unambiguous. The tests will put the UK economy through the most rigorous analysis and scrutiny ever seen.
"UK membership of the EU has brought far reaching and tangible benefits to business and the citizens of the UK and Scotland in particular. Scotland has secured around £1 billion of European Structural Funding for 2000 to 2006. Not bad by anyone's reckoning. But new EU research shows that only 31 per cent of the UK population think our membership of the EU is a good thing - one of the lowest scores across the Union.
"This is an alarming figure. We need to reconnect the EU with its citizens, destroy the image of the EU as a self-serving, distant, uninterested bureaucracy and make the EU better serve and be seen to serve the people of Europe. We can start by making sure what we hear is accurate, expose some of the 'euro-myths' - from the straight banana to the removal of island status.
"But it is not just the EU's image that needs reformed, the UK wants to see Europe reformed. Reformed so that it is better able to deliver real, practical improvements to people's lives.
" Our views on economic reform are driven by the challenge set at the Lisbon Summit in 2000. To make the EU '? the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world ? with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010'. A turning point in EU economic policy. Away from a regulatory agenda towards a framework in which enterprise, innovation, competition and employment can flourish. Reform not as a means to an end but driven by social and economic imperatives. By improving the competitiveness of European economies, business will thrive and employment increase. It is through high levels of employment we can combat social exclusion. One of the great successes of Lisbon is that we have seen the creation of five million EU jobs since 2000.
"We also want institutional reform. Not because we see process and procedure as an end in itself. But so institutions can take mature decisions after proper consultation and scrutiny and deliver the outcomes we want. A European Union reconnected with the people. With a Constitutional Treaty. So the public have a clear statement of what the EU is, what it does and how it does it. With a strong Commission. So we can be sure that there is a level playing field for all member states. With an effective European Parliament able to hold the Commission to account and be the champion of light touch regulation for consumers and businesses.