Brussels, 17/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU economy ministers along with high-ranking officials from the European institutions and leading experts will hold an informal Competitiveness Council in Luxembourg on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 July to discuss and reflect on the potential benefits for companies of well-thought-out and coherent European rules in the era of globalisation.
Under the presidency of Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Étienne Schneider and the chairmanship of journalist Peter O'Donnell (Politico), participants and speakers will initially meet in plenary to discuss ways to be considered to make the European economy more competitive. The atmosphere will, at the behest of the Presidency, be relaxed and informal, with speakers not referring to notes or speaking one after the other in a round table format. The aim will be to draw up an inventory of the EU's assets and possible improvements to be made to European legislation in order to create a more integrated internal market. Internal Market Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, Emeritus Professor of the Jacques Delors Institute and former head of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Lamy will take part.
Two workshops - or “break-out sessions” - will be held: the first on the confrontational relations between the “regulators” and the “regulated” in the single market. The second will be devoted to the existing options for competing internationally. Three scenarios prepared by the OECD will inform the political discussions on investment, employment and growth.
In the afternoon, ministers will discuss the reform, announced recently by the Luxembourg Presidency, of the way the Competitiveness Council operates (see EUROPE 11361), in particular the proposal for a competitiveness check-up at the start of each meeting. (Pascal Hansens)