Sustainable Tourism Law

EVOLUTION OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION TOURISM POLICY 123 cooperation the quality and competitiveness of European tourism, in order to contribute to growth and employment. The applicable criteria for granting Community financial aid, other than those stated in the second paragraph of Article 3b of theTreaty, shall include the following aspects relating to: c ost-efficiency, partnership approach, transnational character (as far as possible), etc. The Annex proposes a series of actions divided into three groups: a) improving knowledge in the field of tourism, b) improving the legislative and financial environment for tourism and c) raising the quality of European tourism. The Programme was well received by the Tourism Council in 1996. However, the Economic and Social Committee considered that there was still no specific European tourism policy (CES 1094/96). For its part, the European Parliament approved the Commission’s proposal through Resolution of 25 October 1996, but then requested its amendment. This led the Commission to approve an amended Proposal (January 14, 1997), although it basically maintained the original structure. But, in spite of the efforts during the Luxembourg Presidency, the Council rejected a final approval, due to the opposition of Germany and the United Kingdom, who questioned the opportunity to fund this initiative. II.6. Conclusions of the High Level Group on tourism and employment The impetus given by the European Conference on Tourism and Employment organized by the Luxembourg Presidency and the Commission in November 1997 was the starting point for a renewed effort to analyse the significant contribution of tourism when facing Europe’s most critical challenges at the threshold of the twenty-first century. The High Level Group on Tourism and Employment (HLG) was created by the Commission at the beginning of 1998. In October, it submitted different conclusions and recommendations, under the title “ European Tourism: New Partnerships for Jobs ”. One of its epigraphs is entitled “ Encouraging sustainable development of tourism ”, claiming the importance of the natural and cultural environment for job creation at three different levels: 8) To safeguard existing jobs through quality control of an ecologically intact environment in vacation spots. 9) To create new jobs through investment in modernization and ecological quality programmes, mainly in holiday resorts. 10) To lay the foundations to revitalize or launch new professions in complementary services, including traditional handicrafts.