19.11.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 279/65

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having regard to the communication from the Commission entitled Mid-term review of industrial policy: a contribution to the EU's Growth and Jobs Strategy (COM(2007)0374) and the accompanying staff working document (SEC(2007)0917),

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having regard to the conclusions of the Competitiveness Council of 22 and 23 November 2007,

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having regard to the communication from the Commission entitled Small and medium-sized enterprises — Key for delivering more growth and jobs — A mid-term review of Modern SME policy (COM(2007)0592),

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having regard to the communication from the Commission entitled A lead market initiative for Europe (COM(2007)0860),

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having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2006 on a policy framework to strengthen EU manufacturing — towards a more integrated approach for industrial policy (1),

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having regard to its resolution of 30 November 2006 entitled Time to move up a gear — creating a Europe of entrepreneurship and growth (2),

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having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the opinion of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (A6-0167/2008),

A.

whereas the Commission's mid-term review of industrial policy takes stock of the progress achieved in implementing the integrated approach to industrial policy as at 2005 and sets out the measures to be taken in the coming years,

B.

whereas industry in the EU contributes to more than 80 % of private sector R&D expenditure and the innovative products it produces account for 73 % of EU exports, thus playing an important role in the transformation of the EU into a knowledge-based economy,

C.

whereas, in comparison with other regions, such as the United States or Asia, industry in the EU is still relatively slow to adapt to changing market realities and new technological developments because of heavy market regulation,

D.

whereas trends such as globalisation, technological change and sustainable development offer important, as yet unexploited opportunities for the industrial sector in the EU,

1.

Welcomes the Commission's communication reviewing the progress made in implementing an integrated industrial policy and stresses that a prosperous industrial sector is essential for the achievement of the Lisbon goals;

2.

Notes the progress achieved with both horizontal and sector-specific actions and welcomes the new sectoral initiatives on food processing and electrical engineering;

3.

Regrets the weakness of the link between EU and national industrial policy and supports the Commission's and Member States' initiatives to strengthen this link;

4.

Believes that the main role of EU industrial policy is to put in place the right framework conditions for enterprise development, industrial investment, innovation and job creation, paying particular attention to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);

5.

Believes that an open and competitive internal market in services and industry contributes to the sector's potential for innovation and increases its competitiveness; takes the view that competition policy plays a crucial role in ensuring that consumers benefit from an open European market;

6.

Emphasises the importance of an efficient public procurement regime for the competitiveness of European industry; believes that pre-commercial public procurement is an important tool for boosting the innovativeness of European undertakings; encourages Member States to review their public procurement policies in this light and asks the Commission to promote the exchange of best practice in this area;

7.

Welcomes the Commission's proposals on consolidating the European market in defence equipment and improving the global competitiveness of the defence industry in the EU;

8.

Encourages the Commission to intensify its market monitoring of the supply chain of industrial and consumer goods, including downstream distributors and retailers, so as to ensure that competitive conditions exist at all stages of the supply chain;

9.

Calls on the Commission to step up its efforts to eliminate unnecessary administrative barriers that make access to the internal market difficult, to simplify and to improve the regulatory environment and to reduce the administrative burden on enterprises, inter alia by ensuring that progress is made on the 13 priority areas set out in the Commission's action plan to reduce the administrative burden and by implementing the second package of ‘fast track’ measures for removing administrative barriers;

10.

Urges the Member States to make progress towards setting and reaching ambitious national targets for the reduction of the administrative burden, in particular those that encourage the growth and development of SMEs, such as simplified reporting requirements and exemptions;

11.

Encourages the Commission to use a coherent approach to SMEs in all EU policies by properly applying the ‘think small first’ principle;

12.

Strongly supports the initiative for a ‘Small Business Act for Europe’; believes that it should take the form of a legislative proposal and include new, concrete initiatives to reduce, through exemptions, the regulatory burden on SMEs, to facilitate their access to the internal market and to public procurement procedures and to ensure that they have adequate access to sources of finance and to research infrastructure;

13.

Emphasises the importance of the Basel II Agreement (3) in influencing bank behaviour and the willingness of banks to lend to relatively high-risk customers, including SMEs; regards this development as instrumental in supporting SMEs in investing in and carrying out business oriented research;

14.

Welcomes the partnership groupings established by the Commission, such as CARS 21 and the High Level Group on Textiles; believes that these groupings are important fora for strengthening EU industrial policy;

15.

Stresses the urgency of establishing an EU-wide market for venture capital by removing existing regulatory and tax obstacles to venture capital investments in Europe's most innovative small firms;

16.

Recalls the importance of modern standardisation systems, and encourages the Commission to speed up the implementation of ‘new approach’ standards, while respecting the needs of SMEs and strengthening the participation of SME representatives;

17.

Is of the opinion that the EU's environmental goals should not be seen as a threat to industry, but as an opportunity to gain a first mover advantage and make industry in the EU a world leader in environmentally friendly and socially acceptable technologies, products and services; stresses therefore, that the application of new technologies should be accompanied by measures to safeguard the international competitiveness of European enterprises;

18.

Considers that industrial development is closely linked to the existence of an efficient transport infrastructure at European level, that a properly performing transport infrastructure enables the development of industrial zones, including those outside cities, and that Member States should be able to use regional development funds in order to create industrial and technological parks in rural areas adjoining conurbations;

19.

Considers that the Commission's proposed action plan on sustainable industrial policy should put in place a framework for a gradual transition towards a low carbon and energy- and resource-efficient industry that will contribute to achieving the objectives in the fields of energy and climate change formulated by the European Council of 8 and 9 March 2007; believes that the lead market initiative and the Standards Action Programme could play an important role in this;

20.

Especially stresses the need for sustainable and balanced development across the EU, both geographically and with regard to the scale of projects; believes that a truly balanced approach is the only way to stimulate the development of industry in the EU, provide new opportunities for job creation and promote successful regions within EU; believes that the clusters initiative can constitute a powerful lever for innovation and sustainable regional development;

21.

Welcomes the significant contribution of cohesion policy to ensuring competition in the industrial sector, and encourages Member States to further focus their investments within the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund on fields which promote the growth of human capital, research, innovation, entrepreneurship and on assistance for SMEs;

22.

Points out that the impact of environmental legislation on the international competitiveness of energy intensive industries in the EU should be taken into consideration urgently in order to avoid carbon leakage and unemployment; in this connection urges the Commission to actively promote and support the setting up of global sectoral agreements that can reduce the environmental impact of specific industries worldwide while ensuring a level playing field;

23.

Supports the Commission in its move to subject all new legislative proposals to an intensive and rigorous impact assessment, examining, in particular, whether each proposal has any unfavourable implications for the functioning of the internal market or the competitiveness of European industry according to the sustainability principle;

24.

Draws attention to the current developments with regard to access to raw materials; points out that the EU is completely dependent on imports of several metals; calls on the Commission to propose an integrated approach to securing sustainable access to raw materials, improving resource efficiency and supporting the development of exploration technologies; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support and accelerate the realisation of the projects announced by the European Council as being of Community interest for energy safety and the diversification of the EU's energy sources;

25.

Recalls the important structural change brought about by the shift in employment towards industry-related services; therefore, supports the planned industry and services initiative that will analyse the service sectors and their impact on industrial competitiveness; draws the Commission's attention, in particular, to the improvement of the quality, productivity and value of services provided to industry, in particular knowledge-intensive business services;

26.

Welcomes the Commission's initiative on structural change which will facilitate the exchange of best practice among Member States; strongly encourages the Commission, in its review of its communication entitled Restructuring and employment — Anticipating and accompanying restructuring in order to develop employment: the role of the European Union (COM(2005)0120), to support the setting up of large partnerships at EU level as well as networks for the exchange of information and best practice among experts in Member States;

27.

Draws attention to the need for ongoing priority investment in education, training and research, and also to the dependence of industrial development and the competitiveness of EU products on the quality of human resources and global innovation in new products;

28.

Emphasises the fact that innovative products significantly strengthen the EU's competitive advantage, representing 73 % of EU exports; notes, however, that the EU still lags behind the United States and Japan in innovation, especially in business R&D; believes, therefore, that Community funding programmes, such as the Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme, and the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, should be exploited to their fullest; in this respect, welcomes the ‘lead market’ initiative and the Standards Action Programme as contributions to unlocking market potential for innovative products and services in specific areas of significant value to society; urges the Commission to demonstrate its commitment to better regulation in this regard and cautions against favouring certain technological solutions over others;

29.

Considers that, in order to boost innovation throughout the EU, it is essential to support invention-related activities and protect the products of those activities; points, therefore, to the importance of a transparent, simplified intellectual property rights policy, and one that is actually enforced; calls on the Council to take action to introduce a Community patent as soon as possible and calls on the Commission to continue to combat counterfeiting and to work towards global solutions in this area, based predominantly on European models;

30.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.