Brussels, 22/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on 25 September, Finnish Trade and Industry minister Mauri Pekkarinen will chair the first Competitiveness Council of the Finnish Presidency. The main items on the agenda are:
Innovation- Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen will present the communication adopted by the Commission on 13 September on a 10-action strategy at national and Community levels to encourage innovation (see EUROPE 9264). The Council will thereafter have an exchange of views, working from a questionnaire drawn up by the Presidency. Innovation policy, it should be remembered, was the central theme of the Jyväskylä informal Competitiveness Council of 10-11 July (see EUROPE 9228, 9229, 9230) and will be one of the major themes of the Lahti informal Summit on 20 October.
Internal market - Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy will inform the Council about the preparation of the Commission's review of the internal market policy (due to be finalised in 2007) and on the 15th internal market scoreboard drawn up in July (see also EUROPE 9270). The Council, working from a questionnaire devised by the Finnish Presidency, will then examine how to provide the Commission with guidelines for its work on this review.
Consumer policy - It is expected that the Council will, without great difficulty, come to a political agreement on the draft decision setting up an action programme for consumer protection for the period 2007-2013. The draft agreement on the table should ensure that delegations stick to a programme of action based on Article 153 of the Treaty, setting out eleven types of action (selection of actions will be carried out annually) and with a budget of €138.8 million, subject to technical adjustment to take account of inflation.
Political agreement will also be sought on the draft 2004 directive (amended in April 2006) on deregulation of package sizes for pre-packed products, such as food products, cosmetics, paint and varnish, washing powder. This proposal repeals two directives establishing nominal obligatory quantities (directive 75/106/EEC and directive 80/232/EEC) for these products. Only wine and alcohols will still be subject to prescriptions on sizes of packaging. The delegations are still divided, with some wishing to retain compulsory nominal quantities for a substantial number of products.
Various - The Council will examine the results of the 6th EuroMediterranean Ministerial Conference on Industry in Rhodes on 21-22 September (to which we will return) and will discuss preparations for the Lisbon Strategy coordinators' meeting to be held in Lisbon on 5-6 October.