Brussels, 28/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with German 'Focus' magazine on 27 December, European Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen said a genuine cultural revolution was being prepared, whereby the Commission would subordinate everything to a single objective: 'jobs, jobs, jobs'. He said that to date, the EU has not managed to established priorities, flipping between industry, the environment and social affairs, but with President Barroso, there was agreement that all Commissioners would have to stick to clear targets. To reporters asking about the January unveiling of a new Growth and Employment Action Programme, Verheugen said the Commission would be radically refining its strategy, noting that the key to growth and employment was greater competitiveness, which required in turn completion of the common market since many countries do not transpose the decisions taken in Brussels. The Commissioner said that services, health, leisure and education would all become engines for jobs in the future.
Commissioner Verheugen stressed that Europe needed a car industry, saying that he would soon be setting up a group of experts, economics ministers and top managers from the car industry to develop a strategy for improving competitiveness.
Asked about the German chemicals' industry's doubts about the REACH chemicals directive, Verheugen said he would ensure that chemicals legislation did not water down competitiveness, adding that changes were still possible to the current legislative package.