Conclusies Raad Concurrentievermogen: verbetering EU-regelgeving, strategie voor banen en groei, concurrentie- en innovatieprogramma (en)

dinsdag 19 april 2005

(Gregor Kreuzhuber)

Summary of main points

Better Regulation

Vice President Günter Verheugen i presented the Commission's Better Regulation proposals to the Council and underlined that simplification, cutting red tape and improving impact assessment was a top priority for the Barroso Commission. Moreover, political oversight of the process was crucial for its success. The Vice President pointed out that this is not an exercise to water down existing or future legislation. On the contrary it is an exercise to streamline and make measures tighter and more efficient. There was a wide ranging exchange of views on the proposals and the Council welcomed the Commission's approach. Commissioner Verheugen said that it was important to move forward quickly into the active phase of this exercise. "This is not a time for talking it is a time for acting" he said. Many Member States endorsed this and there was general support for a fast track approach.

"Integrated Guidelines Package"

Vice President Verheugen presented the new 3 year "Integrated Guidelines Package" for 2005-to 2008. Recommending concrete priority actions it lays out a comprehensive strategy of macroeconomic, microeconomic and employment policies to redress Europe's weak growth performance and insufficient job creation. The Vice President pointed out that since the relaunch of the Lisbon strategy in February, the process was now moving forward. Just two months after the adoption of the "Partnership for Jobs and Growth", the Commission has now put on the table three major initiatives to advance the process. They are Better Regulation, the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme and the Integrated Guidelines Package. The Council thanked the Commission for the proposal and there was a generally positive reaction to the approach that has been adopted. In view of the importance of the issues and the role the Competitiveness Council wants to play in the process, it was decided to hold an extraordinary Council on 10 May for a detailed discussion on the substance of the proposal. On 10 May the Council will focus in particular on the micro-economic guidelines.

Competitiveness and Innovation Programme

Commissioner Verheugen presented the Commission's proposal with it's emphasis on targeting SMEs and the aim of enabling them to have access to innovation. The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) has a budget of € 4.213 billion for the period 2007 - 2013 and will support actions that develop the capacity of enterprise and industry to innovate. Whilst building on tried and tested programmes, CIP also includes many new elements such as:

  • a risk capital instrument for High Growth and Innovative Companies (GIF2)
  • securitisation" of banks' SME loan portfolios
  • enhanced role for innovation and business support networks
  • demonstrators of technological and organisational solutions to European ICT-services
  • a twinning programme for policy makers.

The Council decided to discuss the programme at the extraordinary Council on 10 May.

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