Brussels, 10/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - Under the presidency of the Austrian ministers, Martin Bartenstein (Economy) and Elisabeth Gehrer (Education, Science and Culture), the Competitiveness Council to meet in Brussels on 13 March will focus on preparing the European Spring Council, initiatives launched by the Commission for releasing European productive potential (SME, entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, CIP) and the proposal for a directive on services in the internal market. Before tackling the research points in the afternoon (exchange of views on five specific programmes on implementation of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development - FPRD), the Council will hear the presentation of the report from a group of independent experts (chaired by the former Finnish prime minister, Esko Aho) on research and innovation as well as the Commission's presentation of a proposal for setting up a European Technology Institute.
Services Directive: On Sunday evening, the ministers responsible for competitiveness issues will hold an informal dinner devoted to the proposal for a services directive in the internal market. Points on the agenda include the results of the vote at first reading by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 9133). On Monday, during a public debate, the Austrian Presidency will resume the discussions to be held during the informal dinner. The European Spring Summit on 23 and 24 March is expected to define policy guidelines for debates to come within the Council on the subject of the directive. After this, the Commission will present a modified proposal, probably on 4 April (see EUROPE 9148).
Community Customs Code: The Commissioner responsible for taxation and customs union, László Kovács, is to present to the Council the proposal for a regulation aimed at modernising the Community customs code adopted end November 2005 (see EUROPE 9079). The aim is to simplify the legislation and administrative procedures, mainly by promoting single authorities covering the whole of the Union.
European Spring Summit (revised Lisbon Agenda): On the basis of the annual progress report by the Commission containing information provided by Member States on their National Reform Plans, the Council will hold an exchange of views on the state of progress of the partnership for growth and employment one year after the Lisbon Strategy was launched. Furthermore, the Council will adopt a document prepared by the Austrian Presidency raising key issues relating to improved European competitiveness in liaison with the integrated guidelines 2005-2008 for growth and employment approved by the Council last June. The paper, which will be the Competitiveness Council's contribution to the European Spring Council on 23 and 24 March, focuses on four main priority areas: - more investment in knowledge and innovation; - release of the Union's production potential, mainly in SMEs; - heightened competitiveness of companies and the European industrial base; - and improved internal market working, mainly in the field of services and networking industries.
Small and medium-sized enterprise: On the basis of the Commission's communication of 15 November 2005 (EUROPE 9067 and 9032), the Council will hold a public debate before adopting conclusions on the Community policy in favour of SMEs. In order to structure the debate, the Presidency will call on ministers to provide answers to the following questions: - what initiatives should be taken to simplify and accelerate the administrative procedures for setting up a business? - and what kind of measures should be taken to integrate the Commission's principle of “think small first” in all Community policies in order to release SME potential?
Entrepreneurial spirit: - The Commission will present to the Council its initiative aimed at promoting the entrepreneurial spirit in schools and universities (Communication of 13 February, EUROPE 9130).
Programme for competitiveness and innovation (CIP): With a view to reaching an agreement on a partial general approach, the Council will discuss on the basis of a compromise text drawn up by the Austrian Presidency a draft decision establishing the CIP for the period 2007-2013. This general partial approach must allow the Council to agree on the non-budgetary elements of the CIP proposal (a programme essentially devoted to SMEs with, in the initial Commission proposal, a budget of EUR 4 billion: EUROPE 8923), as negotiations on the financial perspectives 2007-2013 have not yet been concluded.
7th FPRD: Research Ministers will hold an exchange of views on the specific programmes and rules of participation for the 7th framework programme for research and development (2007-2013). As for all elements of the framework programme, at this stage it is not a mater of setting out guidelines pending the first reading in Parliament, as the whole of the package depends on agreement on budgetary breakdown arising from the agreement on financial perspectives.
In terms of specific programmes, ministers are expected to focus on two aspects of the European Commission's proposals. The first is managing the implementation of the framework programme. Quite a large group of Member States are complaining about lack of information about the funded projects, participants and outcomes. For many reasons, ranging from the problems of collecting and publishing reliable statistics to the fact the framework programme is managed by a series of Directorate-Generals, the European Commission has not managed to provide clear information about the results of the FP and the breakdown of projects among Member States, for example. To try and ensure better information flows, France and countries like Spain and Italy are expected to oppose the scrapping of Member State control over each project through programme committees (in theory, each research project has to be approved by qmv, but unless there are objections, they are often approved in batches, Ed.). Other Member States, like Portugal, oppose in principle the idea of scrapping the programme committees' role (suggested by the European Commission in the FP7 to simplify and speed up procedures). Germany shares the concerns of many other Member States over lack of information, but suggests forcing the European Commission to alleviate this through the ex-post assessment procedure. Another regularly occurring point of debate are ethical issues surrounding human stem cell research. Germany, Italy, Poland and Malta want strict ethical rules to prevent the framework programme encouraging the destruction of embryos in order to produce stem cells. The Austrian Presidency may try and get a compromise along the lines of the ethical rules adopted for FP6. Negotiations over participation criteria are only just beginning. Some delegations may try and take advantage of the situation to get the European Commission to give details of modalities and the impact of proposals to allow EU co-funding for more than 50% of research projects. The Commission is suggesting providing up to 75% of funding for SMEs and universities, and even 100% for exploratory research selected by the future European Research Council.
Ahead of the 4th EU-Latin American Summit on 12 May 2006, the Competitiveness Council will take note of a report by the Austrian Presidency on science and technology cooperation. Germany will outline to the Council its views on the current Euro 5 regulation to cut motor vehicles emissions.