A “very rich” debate, in the words of European Commissioner Thierry Breton, but without any legislative advances. At the Competitiveness Council on Monday 25 September, representatives of the Member States discussed at length ways of improving Europe’s competitiveness and the resilience of its single market. This subject has already been addressed at previous meetings and is presented by the Spanish Presidency of the Council as one of its priorities (see EUROPE 13252/8, 13251/12).
The debate focused mainly on the issue of ‘competitiveness checks’, which must be applied to European legislation. The ministers present worked on a “methodology for assessing the competitiveness aspect of new legislation”, said Pascual Ignacio Navarro Ríos, the Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs, without giving any further details of this methodology. Yet this is an essential issue, according to the Lithuanian Deputy Minister for the Economy, Ieva Valeškaite. Earlier in the morning, she had stressed the “burden “ that this legislation places on businesses: “We calculated last year that European regulation is getting worse and is causing concern, even for our pro-European country”. A few weeks earlier, the French Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, was also calling for a reduction in the EU’s legislative load, “which is a burden for businesses and industry” (see EUROPE 13249/32).
The same tone of voice was heard over lunch, during which there was an informal discussion between the ministers and Enrico Letta, who has been commissioned by the European Commission, Spain and Belgium to draw up a report on the future of the single market. “Mr Letta shares the same concerns about businesses and how they can continue to operate in times of crisis”, said Thierry Breton. Discussions on this subject are expected to continue until Enrico Letta delivers his report in March. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)