Verklaring van eurocommissaris Barnier over het resultaat van de Raad van het Concurrentievermogen over het Europese octrooi (en)

As everyone knows, there is no unanimity in Council on the language regime for the European patent.

The way is paved to exploit the possibilities offered by the Lisbon Treaty.

Several Member States have today indicated their support to move towards enhanced cooperation.

As soon as the Commission receives a formal request, we will be ready to take action quickly and seriously.

We need a European patent. The current system for the patent is too expensive; it costs 10 times more than in the United States. It impedes growth. And it is small and medium sized businesses - genuine sources of dynamism for the future - which are suffering most from it.

We thus need to move forward quickly on this issue. The December Competitiveness Council i will be the opportunity for this.