The European Commission today proposed a raft of measures to improve and simplify the system of Cross Compliance, which formed a key element of the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

But through its action in the areas I have mentioned, the Commission can help prepare the ground for the Member States to complete the raft of necessary but painful reforms to labour markets, tax systems and welfare systems.

These criteria have also been established in the above-mentioned proposal for a directive, which forms part of the raft of measures adopted by the Tampere European Council in October 1999 with a view to establishing a common European asylum system.

13. Calls on the Commission to compel Member States to establish a computerised life-raft service database to ensure that all fishing vessel owners are automatically notified to service their life-rafts on an annual basis as well as a similar reminder system for EPIRB and SART batteries;

Although each Member State is working to put in place a raft of measures to adapt their education systems to the Knowledge Society, numerous initiatives still need to be taken.

It must furthermore ensure compliance with the general provisions of the Treaty, notably those relating to competition in a transport sector, which by dint of being more open, will naturally face more competition. 2. Putting in place a genuinely integrated system The smooth functioning of the various networks and modes of transport is impaired by the fact that they are imperfectly integrated. Not only does this narrow the consumer's choices, it also penalizes firms and hampers the free movement of people. Such drawbacks are felt most keenly in the Community's peripheral regions. Against this new backdrop of "sustainable mobility", the Commission is pr ...[+++]oposing a raft of measures designed to iron out the disparities between modes of transport while safeguarding fair competition and ensuring that the various modes complement each other more than ever before. This entails: - spreading the costs more equitably over the different forms of transport and charging users the full costs of using the infrastructure, including indirect ones such as pollution and other harm to the environment. - devising a combined transport system encompassing all the modes; technical and tax harmonization measures, research and development work and cooperation will be necessary to make such a system more attractive to users. 3. Trans-European transport networks The Commission will be lending its support to the development of these networks by helping to establish links between Member States' networks (interconnection) and ensuring that they dovetail smoothly with each other (interoperability).