Agenda: Lissabon, MKB, Programma voor concurrentie en innovatie 2007-2013, Dienstenrichtlijn, nieuwe Douanecode, 7de kaderprogramma onderzoek (en)

vrijdag 10 maart 2006

The EU Competitiveness Council will meet in Brussels on Monday 13 March at 9.30 under the chairmanship of Austrian Federal Minister for Economics and Labour Mr Bartenstein and Austrian Research Minister, Mrs Elisabeth Gehrer.

The European Commission will be represented by

Informal dinner discussion on Sunday 12 March

Ministers will discuss informally the proposal for a Directive on Services in the follow-up to the vote in the European Parliament on 16 February.

Monday 13th March

The Lisbon Process - Preparation of the Spring Council

In February 2005 the European Commission launched a new strategy for the EU to create more growth and jobs. Commission set out a concrete action programme for the EU and its Member States to generate sustained economic growth and more and better jobs and called on Member States to launch a new EU partnership for growth and jobs. This was endorsed by the Spring European Council in 2005. Since the Commission presented a Community Lisbon Programme with key actions to be delivered at Community level. Member States have now presented their national reform programmes.. Ministers will exchange views on progress in the past 12 months and are expected to adopt a Key issues paper which will be the contribution of the Competitiveness Council to the Spring European Council.

Small and Medium Sizes Enterprises

In November 2005 the European Commission tabled a new, more pragmatic, comprehensive and inclusive policy for Europe's SMEs today. By improving synergies between policy areas and by establishing a genuine partnership between the EU and Member States' actions, this will help make SMEs more competitive, by streamlining EU policy instruments. The Commission proposed to integrate the "Think Small First Principle" into all policies both at the national and EU level to make them truly SME friendly. Ministers will have an exchange of views on the proposal and following the discussion, are expected to adopt conclusions.

Competitiveness and Innovation Programme 2007-2013

This proposal has an emphasis on targeting SMEs and the aim of enabling them to have access to innovation. The CIP 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:

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

The Council will continue discussions that follow on the exchanges of views at the May and November Councils in 2005.

Proposal for a Directive on Services in the Internal Market

The Austrian Presidency will provide Ministers with a progress report which will form the basis for an exchange of views.

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Community Customs Code

László Kovács, Commissioner for Taxation and Customs will present to the Ministers the two Commission's proposals - a regulation on a Modernised Customs Code and a decision on Electronic Customs - for creating a new and modernised customs environment to face globalisation challenges (see IP/05/1501, MEMO/05/453).

The Commissioner will ask the Ministers for an early adoption and to support the two proposals whose objectives are to enhance security at the EU external borders and facilitate trade. He will underline that Member States need to put additional resources in order to achieve full reform of the community customs code and to create a pan-European electronic customs system.

The proposals are the result of an extensive consultation with traders and national customs administrations and need to be adopted by the Council and the Parliament under the codecision procedure, provided for in Article 251 of the EC Treaty.

A points: Resolution on a customs response to latest trends in counterfeiting and piracy.

Commissioner László Kovács would like to congratulate Member States and particularly the Presidency, for the initiative to adopt a Resolution on a customs response to latest trends in counterfeiting and piracy. This firm and rapid response to the Commission Communication shows that there is a united front when it comes to tackling this growing menace to the creativity and competitiveness of our businesses, and to the safety of our citizens.

This resolution endorses the Commission's Action Plan on counterfeit and piracy. (see IP/05/1247)

Specific Programmes implementing the 7th Framework Programme of the European Community and Euratom

Proposal for a Regulation laying down the rules for the participation of undertakings, research centres and universities in actions under the 7th Framework Programme and for the dissemination of research results (2007-2013)

The Council will discuss the various legislative proposals on the table of the Council that provide further detail on the workings of the Seventh Framework Programme. The Specific Programmes put into effect the broad outline proposed by the Commission in April 2005, known as the Seventh Framework Programme, composed of 4 main elements: Co-operation, Ideas, People and Capacities as well as programmes governing Euratom and the Joint Research Centre.

The rules of participation are the detailed instructions on how the programme will be managed, and how the relationship between the Commission and the project participants will be governed. This proposal is a major, though not the only element of the commission's efforts to make the programme more straightforward for its participants.

The Council will be giving its views on both sets of documents, in the light of the Partial General Approach to FP7 agreed in December 2005. Specific elements for discussion will be the approach to ethics within the programme and the role of committees.

Lunch

Esko Aho, Chairman of the group established by the Commission to examine how to boost the EU's research and innovation performance will be a guest at the ministerial lunch, to discuss his group's findings and discuss with Ministers how the EU can work better to encourage private investment in R&D. The Ministers will also have an informal discussion about the Commission's recent proposal for a European Institute of Technology.

Any other business

(a) Preparation of EU Latin America/Caribbean Summit

(b) EURO V (At the request of Germany)

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