Competitiveness Council
© Conseil de l'Union européenne
- from: 25.09.2008
- to: 26.09.2008
- In: Bruxelles
Industry and the internal market, 25 September
The working session of 25 September will be chaired by Hervé Novelli, the French Minister of State for Trade, Craft Trades, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Tourism and Services and Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the French Minister of State for European Affairs.
Included on the agenda for this meeting is a ministerial discussion of the 'Small Business Act' in the context of the economic slowdown. The aim of this act is to boost the development and growth of SMEs in Europe.
The ministers will then examine an action plan designed to ease the transition towards sustainable modes of production and consumption and a sustainable industrial policy in Europe. This plan should enable European industry to integrate environmental, energy and sustainable development constraints, while providing an opportunity for development through the promotion of new technologies, by means of the incentives offered by governments. Ministers will pay particular attention to the 'greening' of public procurement contracts.
The ministers will also express their views on the 'Better Regulation' initiative, which aims to simplify and improve the quality of European regulations, while intensifying their impact analyses and reducing the adminstrative burden. The ministers will concentrate upon the need to improve and facilitate legal access, including by electronic means.
As far as innovation is concerned, the Council aims to facilitate the creation and use of standards that may stimulate innovation (such as environmental standards, for example).
The ministers will then devote their working lunch to a general debate on consumer rights in the context of a framework directive on contractual clauses in European consumer law contracts, which the Commission is scheduled to adopt during the month of October.
Finally, the agenda for this session also includes a Council resolution on a 'Global European Plan to Combat Counterfeiting', which aims to increase the effectiveness of instruments used in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy, improve the exchange of information and cooperation between all of the stakeholders and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, which are fundamentally important for the optimisation of research and innovation and the creation of European companies. In order to achieve these aims, the plan proposes measures such as the creation of a European Monitoring Unit for Counterfeiting in order to improve the analysis of the extent of counterfeiting and piracy and improve the exchange and dissemination of information.
5th Space Council, 26 September
The Space Council, a joint meeting of the Competitiveness Council and the European Space Agency (ESA) Ministerial Council, will be chaired jointly by Valérie Pécresse and Maria Van Der Hoeven, the Dutch Minister for the Economy and President-in-office of the ESA Council.
During this Council, the European ministers for space affairs will be invited to discuss and adopt a resolution highlighting the advances made in the implementation of the European space policy, reaffirming Europe's current priorities with regard to the Galileo and GMES programmes and underlining its desire for new initiatives, especially on the issues of climate change, security, competitiveness and space exploration. Furthermore, this resolution will underline the added value and growth of the European Union's undertakings in the space sector, while identifying associated issues concerning governance and financial instruments in particular.
Prepared in the framework of the High-Level Space Policy Group, this resolution is based on the result of discussions that took place during the meeting of European Ministers for Space Affairs, involving the European Parliament and Commission, which was held at the European Space Port in Kourou on 21 and 22 July 2008.
Research, 26 September
Valérie Pécresse, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, will chair a meeting of the European research ministers on 26 September to discuss the continuation of the work undertaken in the framework of the Ljubljana Process, which aims to accelerate and consolidate the construction of the European Research Area.
To this end, the Council will be invited to express its support for the initiative aiming to enhance the appeal and mobility of scientific careers in Europe, which was proposed by Janez Potočnik, the European Commissioner for Science and Research.
Furthermore, an orientation debate for ministers will be held on the subject of 'joint programming', which aims to improve the coordination of research efforts in Europe in response to the major challenges facing society. In this context, and following the discussions held during the meeting of European Ministers for Research in Versailles on 17 July, the French Presidency will invite its partners to sign up to a joint undertaking on the fight against neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease in particular.
Finally, Commissioner Potočnik will present the ministers with a new initiative involving the proposition of a European legal status for major research infrastructures in order to facilitate the creation and governance of these institutions, where necessary.
Main results of the Competitiveness Council of 25 September
- Updated: 25.09.2008
