Brussels, 12/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Irish EU Presidency was undeniably excessively optimistic when it hinted, early this week, that an agreement was possible on the thorny issue of Community patent during the Competitiveness Council on 11 March. On Thursday evening, in fact, it has only been able to note yet again that even a "finishing line" meeting would not be able to clear up all the differences, mainly between Germany and Spain, on the language that should prevail in justice for cases of litigation over the ownership of a patent and on the time it would take for claims to be translated (see EUROPE of 6 March, p.10). The Irish Presidency expressed deep disappointment at this failure, as did European Commissioner for the Internal Market Frits Bolkestein. Nonetheless, the Council did get somewhere on several points of the agenda. It above all adopted its contribution to the Spring Summit as well as the Conclusions on "Stimulating Entrepreneurship", services linked to enterprise and basic research. It also decided to adopt in coming weeks the directive on combating piracy and counterfeiting. Ministers decided, moreover, to extend until end March 2005 the temporary defence mechanism of the European shipbuilding sector (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.9).
Contribution to the Spring European Council. The contribution of the Spring European Council of 25/26 March again places emphasis on the need to develop an integrated approach to competitiveness. To this end, the Council undertakes, in cooperation with the Commission, to make an evaluation of selected key current or emerging proposals across Council formations as to how they affect the competitiveness of enterprise. It also invites the Commission and the Member states to reflect on their political and administrative structures with a view to ensuring that they support effectively an integrated competitiveness agenda for Europe, including the possibility of appointing a dedicated Commission Vice President for Competitiveness and Economic Reform. On the issue of better functioning markets, the Council undertakes to reach an agreement on the proposals relating to recognition of professional qualifications and unfair commercial practices before the end of the year. Recognising the importance of the recent proposal of directive on services, it affirms that it will conduct work relating to this text in the time-frame recommended by the Commission. The Council also calls on Member States to intensify their efforts to meet the European Council targets for the transposition of internal market legislation and to ensure its effective implementation. With regard to regulatory reform, the Council decided to propose, by the end of the year, priorities for screening of relevant elements of the existing body of EU legislation in terms of its cumulative impact on competitiveness, and calls on the Commission to adapt its rolling simplification programme accordingly. It also intends to strengthen, in consultation with the Commission, the "competitiveness" dimension of the extended impact assessment process. Ministers, moreover, asked the Commission to let them know how it plans to "take the new pro-active approach to competition policy forward". In order to better face industry challenges and opportunities, the Council expresses the intention to deepen its analysis of de-industrialisation as well as the challenges facing particular sectors "with a view to assessing whether any changes in framework conditions are necessary". It gives its support to the Commission's action plan on promoting entrepreneurship (conclusions endorsing the plan have been adopted). Furthermore, it urges the Commission to keep it informed of the results of the examination of Member States' national Allocation Plans and to provide an assessment to the Council of the effect of the regime on the competitiveness of European industry, having regard in particular to possible effects on electricity prices. In the same spirit, the Council plans to be fully involved in the process for determining the commitments to be taken during the next phase (after 2012) of the Climate Change Strategy with a view to safeguarding the competitiveness of European industry. On research and innovation, the Competitiveness Council contribution to the Spring Summit stresses that a large part of the EU budge must be devoted to this. The Council plans to create a more favourable working environment with a view to increasing the number and overall quality of researchers in the labour force, and will work with the Justice and Home Affairs Council to reach agreement on the forthcoming draft directive on the Mobility of Third Country researchers by the end of 2004. It also recommends the use of simplified procedures, which improve access to research funds for industry, particularly SMEs, and calls on the Commission to update guidelines for State aid on research and development in order to strengthen innovation. Finally, the Council reaffirms the determining nature of reform of the employment and labour market. It endorses the key messages of the Task Force on Employment and their reflection in the Joint Employment Report and calls for their early implementation, especially at the level of Member States.
Stimulating entrepreneurship. The Council adopted conclusions whereby it gives a favourable welcome to the European agenda for stimulating entrepreneurship and to the Commission report on implementation of the Charter for Small Businesses (see EUROPE of 3 march, pp. 10 and 11). The conclusions, moreover, highlight a number of areas in which progress has still to be made. It is mainly a matter of changing the way people think about entrepreneurship through education and training, improving access to financial resources for SMEs and establishing a regulatory and administrative framework in their favour.
Services. After listening to Commissioner Bolkestein's presentation of the recent proposal of directive on services, on the whole welcomed by the Council which said it would deal with it as soon as possible (see above), ministers adopted conclusions on the competitiveness of business-related services. They mainly stress the need to undertake action at European level in order to: - develop the internal market and competitive framework conditions for business-related services to improve competition, strengthen market integration and meet global competitive challenges; - promote continuous learning; - improve the understanding of linkages between business-related services and other sectors of the economy, in particular the manufacturing industries and the public sector; - improve statistical information; - and encourage R&D and non-technological innovation, the establishment of voluntary standards for services products and the further development of business-related services in regional and local markets.
Intellectual property. Further to the parliamentary vote on Tuesday on the Fourtou report (see EUROPE of 10 March, p.15), the Council announced that it would adopt in coming weeks the directive on combating piracy and counterfeiting as amended by the Parliament.
Research. The Council adopted conclusions on basic research in the EU in response to the Commission communication published on 14 January. Generally speaking, it stresses the need to give broad support to this kind of research and notes the Commission's intention to launch an initiative by May 2004 on operational mechanisms likely to give added value to national approaches and bring in a European dimension in the aim of strengthening creativity and excellence in basic research in Europe. Ministers then proceeded to an exchange of views on the Commission's White Paper on space policy. They agreed to continue their reflection on the issues raised with a view to holding an informal joint meeting of the EU/ESA Council before 2004.