Brussels, 15/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Industry Ministers, who met on Monday and Tuesday under the chairmanship of Lars Rekke, gave their full support to the European Commission's decision to approach the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against "unfair competition by Korea" in the shipbuilding sector, if an agreement is not reached with this country by 30 June. They did not, however, give their stance on the intention of the European Executive to propose a temporary aid mechanism to the countries affected. The Industry Council welcomed the "Monti reform" proposal on the modernisation of competition rules.
Ministers confirmed their concern about the critical situation in world shipbuilding, "characterised by very low prices and significant overcapacity attributable mainly to Korean shipyards". However, for reasons of intra-European competition, a minority of Member States (United Kingdom, Netherlands and the northern countries) did not support the Commission's proposal to take temporary aid measures towards European shipyards directly affected by Korea's behaviour. A Council spokesperson specified that these States, which do not make up a minority blocking, have managed to have the Council limit itself to "taking note" of the Commission's temporary support mechanism proposal, while it "strongly supports" the Commission's intention to launch a WTO procedure. The result is that the Commission is partly strengthened by this first exchange with the Council on its strategy decided on 8 May 2001, an essential achievement for having more weight in future contacts with South Korea. Commissioner Pascal Lamy tells ministers of the confidence he has in the availability of Koreans to begin negotiations. In his view, there are signs that confirm this country has changed its attitude as it hitherto kept to a far more inflexible line.
The industry ministers held a first general discussion on the Commission's proposal on the modernisation of application of competition rules set out in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty. The "Monti reform", presented in October, aims above all, to: set in place consultation between the competition authorities and the Commission; and to do away with the prior notification of cooperation agreements between companies to allow the Commission to focus on abuse and major reductions. Most Member States insisted that renationalisation of competition policy should be avoided. Some delegations, including those from Portugal and Greece, raised the question of how to guarantee equitable and coherent treatment between national authorities. They spoke of the risk that companies might choose the national authority that suits them best.
The Fifteen approved the transfer to the Community budget of EUR 1.6 billion from the ECSC budget, whose founding Treaty expires on 23 July 2002. These assets will be paid into a fund for research on coal and steel. Nonetheless, the formal transfer decision will not take place until after the ratification procedure for the Treaty of Nice.
Consensus was reached on the Commission's White Paper on the new Community policy on chemical products. Except for Denmark, ministers requested that the new system, justified by considerations of an environmental and public health kind, should not harm the competitiveness of the European chemicals industry compared to third countries. France and Germany urged for account to be taken of the situation of SMEs. Denmark clearly stated that the precautionary principle must be the point of departure for the new system. It spoke in passing of the growing number of cases of allergy in reaction to the development of certain chemical substances, and insisted that the quick profits policy should not be detrimental to consumers' interests.
The Council welcomed the note presented by Industry Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on aid to companies to help them "Go Digital", in the context of the follow-up to the European Councils of Lisbon and Stockholm. It called on Member States to support the benchmarking exercise launched by the Commission in the field of communication technologies and the e-business strategy, and to promote adequate training of SMEs in these technologies, cooperation with the IT industry and the organisation of conferences.
Ministers also adopted Council Conclusions on the "integration of sustainable development into enterprise policy of the European Union". They placed emphasis on how urgent it is to integrate, in a more balanced manner, the economic, social and environmental dimensions into enterprise policy.
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