Brussels, 04/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - EU ministers pressed Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, attending her first Competitiveness Council on Thursday 4 December, to prepare a roadmap for industry.
Roadmap. Ministers discussed the issue with the commissioner who confirmed that the Commission could use legislative and non-legislative means to help bolster industrial competitiveness. The conclusions adopted later by ministers call for the roadmap, expected for next year, to allow best use to be made of sectors such as digitalisation, the bio-based economy and key enabling technologies and to deal with the challenges around resource efficiency, a stable and sustainable supply of raw materials, energy costs and a fully integrated and interconnected internal energy market.
Sectoral approach. The conclusions highlight the need to mainstream sectoral policies, and to rationalise sectoral policies. Ministers call on the Commission to pursue sectoral initiatives “whenever the challenges to competitiveness and the need to maintain a strong industrial base recommend it”, as was the case for steel in 2013.
SMEs. The support provided by small and medium-sized businesses to industry is also acknowledged by ministers, who were provided with detailed information from the SME Envoys Network which delivered a report. The Network also stressed the need to proceed sector by sector and country by country.
Investment fund. Over lunch, ministers had the opportunity for discussions with Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Commissioner Jyrki Katainen on the €315 million investment plan presented by the Commission on 26 November. “I explained to the ministers that the investment plan was going to change Europe permanently, even though it will not solve all our economic problems”, Katainen commented. Ministers were keen to seek clarification on a number of points, including the effect on national budgets. (MD)