draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. – Mr President, may I begin by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Skinner, for the excellent work he has done in drafting this report. As the draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the shadow rapporteur for the EPP-DE Group on this matter in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, I should like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Skinner who has been very successful in collating the views of parliamentary committees and political groups and putting them on paper in a harmonious and balanced manner. In the communication on risk capital, the main political message was that risk capital is essential for job-creation, raising productivity and supporting growth in Europe. I would like to express this even more strongly than the Commission did. If we really want the European Union to achieve the ambitious goals of the Lisbon Summit, it is absolutely essential to improve the functioning of the single European risk capital market. Companies in the European Union, especially in growth industries like the hi-tech and bio-tech industries, cannot achieve their full potential without better access to risk capital. Efficient venture capital markets are also a precondition for the development of entrepreneurship in Europe. In that sense I fully agree with Mr Skinner when he says that it is of the utmost importance to give SMEs open and fair access to the new risk capital markets. According to a recent study mentioned in the Commission communication, this is also a very efficient tool for improving employment, since between 80 and 90% of funds raised from venture capital normally go towards hiring more people; in other words more risk capital allows us to use our human capital more efficiently. In fighting unemployment, concrete measures to alleviate the tax pressure on labour are also urgently needed. I also want to emphasise the importance of reducing the costs and administrative procedures involved in setting up a company and getting back business after bankruptcy. At the moment there are too many possible entrepreneurs outside the economy, just because of inadequate insolvency rules. The present communication shows that even if some progress has been made Europe still has some major weaknesses, particularly when compared with its main competitors. Mr Skinner said that both the amount and allocation of risk capital remains sub-optimal compared to the United States, and unfortunately this overall gap is widening all the time. That should make us a little worried about the timetable proposed by the Heads of State and Government in Lisbon. We should ask ourselves whether the deadline of 2003 is too late for Europe. I welcome the view put forward by Gordon Brown and others that we should think about accelerating the timetable, in both the risk capital action plan and the financial services action plan. We should at least make sure that some progress is made this year. I therefore totally support Parliament's view on point 23, calling on the Commission to keep us regularly informed about recent developments. The proposal for a directive on supplementary pension funds is essential for the growth of venture capital in Europe. The Employment and Social Committee wanted to make a reference to the findings of the recent report on supplementary pensions, particularly on the prudential rules. Institutional investors such as insurance companies, investment funds and pension funds play an increasingly predominant role in providing risk capital. Pension funds in particular have been gaining in importance in the last decade as the demographic changes increase the need for retirement products. The shift in favour of more performance-orientated instruments has also increased the need to reform the system. The developments over the last few days with the single currency have been unfortunate. The euro will never be strong or attractive enough if the European economy is not strong and attractive. The risk capital action plan is one of the political choices we have already decided to make. Now we only have to make sure that we make it fast enough to use the current window of opportunity.

Political group: PPE-DE