Brussels, 23/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - At their informal Competitiveness meeting in Jouy-en-Josas on Thursday 17 July, the Research Ministers of the EU focused on the future prospects for research to provide the best possible response to the great challenges of the moment. On 18 July, the ministers with responsibility for the internal market and industry had their first opportunity to discuss their intended response to the initiatives laid down by the Small Business Act.
This meeting, which was chaired by the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Valérie Pécresse, provided the opportunity to work on "vision 2020" of the European Research Area (ERA), which will be proposed for adoption at the "Competitiveness" Council of December 2008, in the framework of the Ljubljana process. "It is absolutely imperative that we improve the coordination of our research effort. Today, only 15% of our research effort is coordinated", Ms Pécresse stressed. Against this backdrop, the European ministers, who did their work in thematic workshops, identified four common subjects for which an effective coordination of European research may be rapidly implemented: (1) adaptation of agricultural techniques to climate change and food safety; (2) implementation of the SET plan (Strategic Technology Plan for Energy) and its six industrial initiatives; (3) getting on top of embedded computing, development and future uses of the Internet in full respect of privacy. The Swedish Minister for higher education, Lars Leijonborg, admitted that when it comes to information and communication technologies (ICT), the Americans had a considerable start on the Europeans. He stressed the need, therefore, to catch up, given the major influence of ICT on economic growth; (4) rolling out national Alzheimer's plans and their European coordination, particularly by means of the joint procedure proposed by the Commission. "A working group (to fight Alzheimer's disease) will be set up in September and will involve the funding and research bodies of the Member States", said Ms Pécresse. "An exchange of experiences will take place in the autumn between the States which have already launched an Alzheimer's plan at national level", she added, referring to the United Kingdom, Germany and France amongst those States which have already set such a system in place. The ministers also stressed the urgent need to give ERA the instruments which are vital for its competitiveness, in Europe particularly, by adopting a legal system of patents and the creation of a Community patent, promoting effective interaction between education, research and innovation, involving the public and private sectors, improving pan-European cooperation and, lastly, improving coordination of the public resources which can be made available at regional, national and Community level, by encouraging joint programming.
During the second day, discussions focused on the "European Small Business Act" (SBA), a European action plan containing both legislative and non-binding measures designed to create more favourable conditions for the growth of European SMEs. "I am delighted to note a broad consensus on the need to set in place concrete measures for SMEs", said Hervé Novelli, the Secretary of State for Trade, who was chairing this informal "Competitiveness Council", which examined the action plan presented by the European Commission on 25 June (EUROPE 9690). However, despite this consensus on the strategic importance of developing SMEs in Europe, certain elements of the European Commission's proposals are still creating differences of opinion. Setting in place a reduced rate of VAT on the highly labour-intensive services, for example. "Germany has told us of its scepticism", Mr Novelli acknowledged. The idea of bringing in a preferential system to facilitate the access of SMEs to public procurement contracts, which has the support of France, also divides the 27. In its proposed SBA, the Commission does not include the principle of market quotas for SMEs, going no further than to call on the Member States to make it easier for small businesses to become involved in calls for tender launched by their administrations, by means of a simple code of conduct. "In view of the fact that 42% of European public contracts already go to SMEs, I do not believe that it is necessary to bring in any binding quotas", said Günter Verheugen, the Commissioner for enterprise and industry. In the view of Mr Novelli, however, this "code of good conduct", also supported by the European Commission, "is a basis on which we will be working over the months to come". "We think we could go further", he said. France is hoping to reach a political agreement by the end of its Presidency, at the "Competitiveness" Council of 1 and 2 December, then at the European Council of 11 and 12 December. The ministers also agreed on the principle of creating a European private company, making it easier to create subsidiaries, for example, in any country of the EU. They did not, however, put figures to the minimum start-up capital of 1 euro called for by the Commission. (B.C./trans.fl)