Brussels, 05/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The high-level "textiles and clothing" group, which was set up to look at the future of this sector of European industry, met on 5 March for the first time since it was set up (on this initiative of the European Commission, after the communication adopted last autumn on "the future of the textiles and clothing sector in the enlarged European Union"). Among those taking part in the group's first meeting, the objective of which is to draft a series of recommendations on measures to be taken to improve competitiveness in the sector in the context of enlargement, were Commissioners Pascal Lamy (Trade), Erkki Liikanen (enterprise and the information society-, and Philippe Busquin (Research), Ministers from France, Nicole Fontaine, Italy, Antonio Marzano, Germany, Georg W. Adamovitsch, and Portugal, Maria Ventura, and MEP Concepcio Ferrer (EPP-ED, Spain) and representatives of industry, retailers, distributors, European professional organisations, unions and local industrial associations from the textiles and clothing sector. Recommendations are to cover issue essential to competitiveness, such as research and innovation, education, training and employment, trade policy, protection of intellectual property rights, labelling and industrial co-operation.
Commissioners Lamy, Liikanen and Busquin said that they were convinced that Europe's textiles sector has a great future, as long as it gets the best from its assets whilst trying to develop new ones. Pointing out that European producers are still the world leaders for non-woven and technical textiles despite a "difficult period over the last three years", Mr Liikanen stressed that the EU should "make the best of existing assets in a changing industry" in order to "improve the competitiveness of the sector". Mr Lamy added: "we must create new trading opportunities so that the European industry can compete internationally". Pascal Lamy stressed the quality of European textiles, "the best in the world" in terms of productivity, added value and competitiveness, but recognises that "this industry is suffering" due to strong international competition, which is sometimes unfair. Competition which is characterised by not being "static": "other countries want to improve and we want to remain the best!" he exclaimed. The Trade Commissioner also stressed that the interests of the sector occupied an important place in the EU's trade agenda. "In 2005, import quotas will disappear, but our interest in the industry will not", he said. Mr Busquin stressed the "research and innovation" side, which industry should focus on more, using its current assets: "we must use know-how in the traditional sector to develop new high-technology applications", he said. He feels that "the Community textile industry can prosper, as long as it invests in new procedures and production equipment, in innovative design and production systems and training and skills". It is obvious to the Research Commissioner that the key to success lies in "added value", which European textiles can offer. A sector which must look in future to develop "intelligent, technical" textiles oriented towards the needs of the space, health and environment sectors, for example. The three Commissioners acknowledged that the sector was currently too fragmented, and that it should be re-centred: "we must create a more European sphere of action. We should co-operate more, with greater transparency; that is as clear as crystal!" said Mr Liikanen. Mr Busquin stressed that "the high-level group will help to pool the efforts of key players in identifying a vision and clear strategic research agenda in this field, to overcome the scattering of resources and the lack of co-ordination in different initiatives".
After its first meeting, the group will provide contributions and advise on encouraging Community research efforts in the sector, with a view to working out a "strategic vision". The Commission will then present a report on the initial conclusions before July 2004.
It is worth noting that together with the US, the EU is the world number one in trade of textile products and clothing. The sector represents some 4% of total manufacturing production in the EU, and 7% of manufacturing jobs with a combined turnover of 200 billion EUR, generated by 177,000 businesses employing some 2.1 million people (see the Commission's communication in EUROPE/Documents Nr 2337/2338 dated 20 November 2003).