Brussels, 03/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on Monday, the first "Competitiveness" Council under Greek Presidency adopted its contribution to the Spring Summit before proceeding to a public debate on the spirit of enterprise and competitiveness in the EU (see p.11). After this debate, during which it was also a question of industrial policy in an enlarged Union, the Fifteen adopted conclusions on promoting the spirit of enterprise and small enterprises. We shall come back to this. The Fifteen also exchanged views on simplification and reduction of the volume of Community legislation. They heard the Commission present reports on the state of progress of work on the ITER programme (thermonuclear fusion) and on preparation of the legislative package on chemical products, as well as the recent Green Paper on European space policy.
In the introduction to its contribution to the Spring Summit, the Council considers that it is appropriate to give fresh impetus to the implementation of the Lisbon process, given the uncertain economic outlook and the continued high level of unemployment. It also recalls the horizontal role that has been assigned to it, namely that of ensuring an integrated approach is applied to strengthen competitiveness and growth in respect of balance between the three sustainable development pillars for the economic, social and environmental aspects. The document adopted by the Fifteen stresses that the Competitiveness Council will, in the context of the integrated strategy for competitiveness, gear its action to the correct functioning of the internal market, improved rules of procedure, industrial competitiveness, promotion of the spirit of enterprise and of small enterprises and the enhancement of innovation and promotion of research. It insists that the implementation of the Lisbon programme also requires action at national, regional and local levels and that, in this respect, the open method of coordination applied in an appropriate way can be a useful tool for supporting Community action.
Regarding the competitiveness of enterprise in the context of an enlarged Union, the Council restates the need to simplify and improve legislation not only at Community but also at national level and
notes that the priorities have not changed, namely rapid implementation of the action plan to simplify and improve the regulatory environment and, more importantly rapid signing of the Interinstitutional Agreement on improving legislation. During the public debate, the German, Dutch and Portuguese ministers focussed on the end to lighten the administrative burden on European companies, with the UK minister warning against over-complex legislation for SMEs. The Council recalled the importance of the Commission submitting all legislative initiatives for in-depth impact assessment and consulting business in order to ensure companies were able to compete on an even footing in the world economy. The Commission's contribution to the Spring European Council notes that setting a strategy for chemicals that preserves public health and the environment, while encouraging productivity in the chemical industry, might be a test in this area. Speaking in the public debate, the Dutch secretary of state for European affairs, Atzo Nicolai, was at pains to stress that both for chemical products and for others, the adoption of a balanced approach, reconciling the three pillars of sustainable development without damaging competitiveness may prove "difficult". On promoting entrepreneurship, the Council invites Member States to be actively involved in consultations on the Commission's recent Green Paper in this connection, calling on the Commission to propose an Action Plan by the end of 2003 as a follow-up. The British and French delegations presented a joint contribution to the debate over the Green Paper (see p. 10). Another vector of competitiveness in the EU's economy - support for SMEs. The Council insisted that the implementation of the European Charter for Small Companies had to be speeded up "in an innovative way", that the action it foresees needs to be better oriented and gaps between the results of the different Member States filled. It said that particular attention should be paid to promoting education and training in entrepreneurial skills (the Spanish secretary of state for European affairs, Ramon de Miguel, called for the creation of enterprise culture in school), encouraging innovation and technology transfer and measures to encourage investment and risk taking, particularly greater access to risk capital. The Council endorsed the Commission's approach to industrial policy, noting that although a horizontal policy, it should also take account of the specific needs and characteristics of each sector. During the public debate, the French secretary of state Renaud Dutreil said that France wanted the Commission to give its industrial policy a sectoral wing, and this idea was shared by the Portuguese Economy Minister Carlos Tavares, who also highlighted the importance of traditional sectors with regard to the new economy. The EU once again stressed the need to pursue efforts to cut the overall level of state aid and called for the revised mergers regulation to be adopted before the end of the year.
The Competitiveness Council's contribution to the Spring Summit also highlights the role of innovation and research and development in technology (RDT) in the building of a competitive economy. In this connection, it feels that particular attention must be paid to activities strengthening the involvement of SMEs in research and innovation. The Council calls on the Commission to unveil an action plan for the realisation of the Barcelona objective, namely that investment in RDT account for 3% of GDP, two thirds of this coming from the private sector. It also argues that a common programme should be established for avant-garde and cutting edge technologies; that the biotechnology action plan should be actively implemented; the a framework for a common strategy should be established by the end of 2003 for the EU and the European Space Agency; that the Galileo project be rapidly implemented; and that the information society and increasing the capacity of scientific networks and broad band communications should be a high priority.
The Council recalled the role of the internal market as a vector of competitiveness, considering that "urgent" action must be taken to create a genuine internal market in services, particularly in terms of finishing the work undertaken on financial services. It stressed the need to make progress in a number of areas, including public tendering, intellectual property rights and the Community patent, and to strike a balanced agreement as soon as possible on the merger directive. The ministers highlighted the acceleration and transposition of full implementation of EU law, wanting the Commission to be encouraged to unveil as soon as possible an action plan on company law, highlighting enterprise governance. They assert that the objectives set by the Barcelona Summit in terms of integrating energy, transport and communications networks should be achieved while taking due account of the notion of services of general interest.