Brussels, 29/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Keen to maintain a constant dialogue with the EP, which only has a consultative role in competition policy, Commissioner Mario Monti presented the Commission's recent work to the economic and monetary committee and pointed out that ongoing reforms would enable it exercise greater control, while getting rid of unnecessary bureaucratic red tape.
Austrian Christian Democrat Othmar Kara underlined the need for a competitive Europe and should therefore invest more in the technology sector. He declared that they had to be more able, subtle, mobile and enterprising. He also pointed out that competition problems were a handicap for attaining this objective and hindered freedom of action in Member States. German Social Democrat Bernhard Rapkay was convinced that competition was indispensable for getting the single market to work and underlined, as it Portuguese Socialist Manuel Antonio dos Santos, that competition policy had to be an instrument that contributed to achieving the single market and not an objective simply in itself. Mergers: Repkay focused on the need to take into account the social repercussions and jobs. State Aid: he agreed for stricter control but considered that this had to be possible when they supported ecological projects or job creation. Finnish Liberal Astrid Thors asked whether the new regulation on "automobile distribution" would not produce the contrary effect to the objectives being sought and underlined that in certain remote regions of Finland, supply for car repairs had been reduced. She also requested that Monti speeded up the investigation into Microsoft so that they had a competitive market as quickly as possible. Claude Turmes a Green from Luxembourg said that there was still not enough competition on the electricity market, especially in France and Germany. Italian Radical Benedetto Della Vedova like others also criticised the consultative role of the EP in competition and called for real co-decision making power. He appreciated the investigative work into the liberal professions carried out by the Commission but wanted more competition to be introduced into it. He declared that many Member States still had corporate links. Spanish Liberal Carles-Alfred Gasoliba i Böhm congratulated Monti on the work he had done but considered that they would not "lower their guard", as there would still be pressure from economic and political circles to escape from the rules. Mario Monti recognised that there would still be imperfections that needed correcting and that efforts overall had to converge toward the effective completion of the single market where competition would be an instrument and not an end in itself. On the issue of State Aid he declared that he would continue his policy to reduce the amounts but admitted the need to authorise those that had environmental or social goals. He underlined that there were specific frameworks on this subject. He explained that in connection with liberalisation of the car sector it was still too early to tell whether the initial trends showed price convergence. On Microsoft, Monti confirmed that the conclusion was in sight ad that a draft decision was ready (rumours suggest a negative decision against the US group).