A4-0183/95

Resolution on the communication from the Commission 'Strengthening the competitiveness of the European machinery construction industry' (COM(94)0380 - C4-0216/94)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication 'Strengthening the competitiveness of the European machinery construction industry' (COM(94)0380 - C4-0216/94),

- having regard to the Commission communication of 14 September 1994 on an industrial competitiveness policy for the European Union (COM(94)0319 - C4- 0140/94),

- having regard to the Commission communication on the work programme for the implementation of the measures provided for (COM(94)0319),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment and the Committee on Budgets (A4-0183/95),

1. Welcomes the initiative adopted by the Commission for strengthening the competitiveness of the European machinery construction sector and its work programme in response to the EU's concerns regarding industrial competitiveness;

2. Considers that the European Union should promote forms of technological and organizational development making it possible to combat unemployment without increasing precarious employment;

3. Supports the Commission's strategy to stimulate innovation in the sector in areas such as information and communications, new materials, clean and environmental-friendly technologies, and micro-mechanics;

4. Draws attention to the strategic importance of this sector for European competitiveness and the development of environment-friendly means of production, since it supplies industry in general with machinery and capital goods which are necessary in order to respond on an ongoing basis to industrial change and environmental needs;

5. Pays tribute to the consultation and information process conducted with the industry and the trade unions and considers permanent, effective communication in the future between the Commission and the sector to be essential;

6. Stresses the need to boost demand in order to stimulate investment and the importance of promoting demand in vital capital goods, essential in guaranteeing the soundness and competitiveness of the EU machinery industry, and thereby to stimulate intermediate consumption and employment;

7. Considers that vocational training and upgrading the skills of the labour force are vital competitive factors for any modern, dynamic and job-creating industry;

8. Underscores the importance of this sector of industry, which is skilled- labour intensive, for employment in the European Union;

9. Considers that the machinery industry can play an important role in boosting the EU export sector, mainly owing to demand from Central and Eastern European countries and industrializing countries, and can help secure a share of the international market and possibly create jobs in the EU;

10. Calls on the Member States to encourage capital investment, new forms of work-organization, training, R& D and innovation amongst other industries in the machinery sector;

11. Calls for measures to be adopted to mitigate the adverse effects on the sector of fluctuations between European currencies, demonstrating the need to introduce a single currency on the timescale projected, including the provision of information for businesses regarding forms of protection against exchange risks and facilitating their access to them;

12. Considers that, in view of the predominance of SMEs, the various EU and Member State programmes aimed at such businesses should take the needs of the sector into account;

13. Presses for an appropriate Community policy for verifying and penalizing inadequate transposition and implementation of EU directives in national law;

14. Agrees that there is an urgent need for the basic legal framework enabling businesses to plan their activities to be established and for the Member States to be encouraged to incorporate the relevant EU directives into national law, as well as for administrative simplification of the application of Community legislation;

15. Urges the Commission to minimize the duration of the present transitional VAT arrangements and to submit a proposal soon for a definitive VAT system;

16. Stresses that the Fourth Framework Programme should incorporate the R& D requirements of the machinery industry into its sectoral programmes and calls on the Member States to ensure better coordination amongst themselves of their R& D programmes in the sector;

17. Believes that, owing to the structure of SMEs, businesses which invest in R& D should be eligible for tax advantages and enjoy better access to the venture capital market in the Union and stresses the need for transnational association and cooperation amongst businesses, including those in disadvantaged regions, to ensure that they obtain access to Community R& D programmes;

18. Highlights the importance of training amongst workers in the sector concerned and the need to ensure that it is constantly adapted to accommodate technological innovations by taking advantage of Community programmes such as ADAPT and Leonardo;

19. Considers that education systems should support mechanical engineering institutes and their relations with vocational training centres;

20. Calls for the establishment and promotion of arrangements to associate universities, engineering colleges and training institutes, industrial research organizations and national and local authorities with industry, with a view to an ongoing transfer and updating of best-practice methods, environment-friendly production systems and technical know-how;

21. Calls on the Commission to encourage the mutual recognition of vocational qualifications, the adoption of common minimum standards and the involvement of young apprentices in vocational training schemes linked with businesses in other Member States, thus emphasizing vocational skills, together with special encouragement for disadvantaged young people;

22. Believes that it is necessary to give greater support to applied and development-oriented research, demonstration and dissemination in order to maintain Europe's technological leadership and to coordination at European level between the representatives of the industrial sectors and of the machinery industry;

23. Shares the concern at the loss of skilled workers as a result of changes in employment patterns and proposes that flexible systems negotiated with workers' representatives should be introduced to allow certain sections of the labour force to remain in place and to facilitate a return to work during periods of economic recovery, and calls on the Commission to analyze the various options with national authorities, businesses and trade unions;

24. Acknowledges the need to establish a link between in-service training opportunities, flexible working time arrangements and, where appropriate, reduced working time;

25. Stresses that the introduction of new forms of organization of labour should under no circumstances encourage precarious employment or neglect the need to protect the purchasing power of wage-earners;

26. Calls on the Commission to harmonize the amounts of the various forms of public aid granted by the EU to machinery companies in the different Member States, taking into account regional disparities (Objectives 1 and 2), and calls on the Commission to encourage long-term investment within the Union;

27. Looks to the Commission to provide detailed facts and figures periodically on business concentration and interrelationships in the machinery production sector in the EU, on business relocations within and outside the EU (in particular to Eastern Europe) and on the number of bankruptcies in this sector;

28. Advises businesses to take advantage of the resources which skilled and motivated young women represent in terms of the labour market, especially in view of their limited presence in this sector;

29. Urges that national legislation on putting machinery into service be harmonized;

30. Notes with concern the close economic and technological interdependence between the machine industry sector and mining in the EU, which is undergoing major restructuring, and the adverse effects which this has on its competitive position on the international market, and calls on the Commission to submit a study to Parliament on this subject;

31. Considers that the international presence of the European machinery industry must be promoted in third countries and, in particular, in South-East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe by facilitating the involvement of SMEs;

32. Insists that full use is made of the EU's trade protection instruments in response to anti-competition practices by third countries, and that mutual recognition agreements are negotiated which ensure fair trade;

33. Insists that the competition laws of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe with which the EU has established association agreements are harmonized without delay;

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