Brussels, 26/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the Competitiveness Council discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the European car industry and announced that it was preparing a report on strategic questions for the industry for the Spring 2005 Competitiveness Council. The Member States welcomed a report prepared by a high-level Council working group on the car industry, which will form the basis of the Commission's future work. Assessing the impact of EU rules on the car industry, particularly environment protection regulations, the working group highlighted a series of weaknesses, including the high cost of regulation to the European car industry, the fact that most regulations are implemented too rapidly to write off the cost to industry and that excess flexibility allows directives to be implemented differently from one Member State to the next, thereby increasing costs and leading to an uneven playing field.
The Council agreed to the Commission setting up a high level working group on the European car industry to look at measures to improve the economic climate for the car industry, prioritising regulations and technology and innovation policies.
At his hearing at the European Parliament, Commissioner Gunter Verheugen acknowledged the advantages of a specific approach for the car industry to deal with the problems facing the industry, along the lines of the working group for textiles and the leadership project for the shipbuilding industry. (See Europe of 1 October, p.5.)