Brussels, 26/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the Competitiveness Council on Thursday 25 September, European industry ministers took note of a request by the French delegation calling on the Competitiveness Council to actively contribute to the reflection on the identification of financial means and tools in relation to deployment of an investment package for the coming years advocated by the president-elect of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. Within his reform agenda, presented to the European Parliament in July, Juncker spoke of an investment package worth €300 billion to boost growth, employment and competitiveness.
During an exchange of views, ministers called for this programme to be discussed by a number of Council formations, “including by the Competitiveness Council and not just by the Ecofin Council”, according to the summing up of Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs Sandro Gozi on Thursday. “We must adopt a cross-cutting, integrated approach to assess this plan. Of course, it will be for the incoming industry commissioner to fill in the detail,” Gozi added. “As the Presidency, we have reaffirmed the great importance we attach to this plan, the originality of which is that it brings together private and public money, meaning that much is expected of it. We look forward to closer discussions with President Juncker at the European Council in December”, he said (our translation).
On Thursday, several delegations underlined the importance of setting out favourable framework conditions in the EU to stimulate public and private investment, a Council press release stated. (EH)