Brussels, 26/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 May, the Council of the EU gave its support to the idea that any European legislative initiative must be guided by the "innovation principle". This approach provoked some concern amongst European trade unions.
During a meeting in Brussels, Ministers from the Competitiveness Council adopted conclusions on "the regulation promoting research and innovation". In it, the Council stipulates that upstream of any amendment to EU law or European policies, the European Commission would have to determine and evaluate the possibility of applying the "innovation principle" in order to assess the potential impact on research and innovation in the EU.
This idea particularly has the support of the Commission. In a recent working document, it said it was committed to calling on the REFIT Platform to launch a call for input from business on this subject. In the same document, it mentions the "innovation principle. It explained, however, that this was just a referral in the form of a footnote to the BusinessEurope (European federation of private employers) webpage.
The Commission is still attempting to tackle the question of a regulation hampering innovation a posteriori of the legislative process, by launching initiatives to explain what is involved in the existing legal framework, to the different stakeholders. It also did this in Thursday's presentation to the Council of the new pilot scheme it launched and whose "aim is to help innovators with promising solutions to environmental issues and overcome what they perceive as regulatory challenges to bringing their ideas to market". This project is known as the "Innovation Deals" and was included in the legislative package on the circular economy.
The new approach the Council is now supporting and which has provoked some misgivings from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), involves innovation being placed at the centre of the EU's legislative work. The unions are afraid that this will particularly benefit certain interests and harm the precautionary principle at the very moment that impact studies are being developed. In its conclusions the Council "highlighted" the precautionary period in the form of a footnote. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)