A4-0040/97

Resolution on the Commission communication on an industrial competitiveness policy for the European chemical industry: an example (COM(96)0187 - C4-0273/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 130(1) of the EC Treaty which requires the Community and the Member States to ensure that the conditions necessary for the competitiveness of the Community's industry exist,

- having regard to Article 130f of the EC Treaty which provides for the strengthening of the scientific and technological bases of industry and for encouraging international competitiveness,

- having regard to Article 130r of the EC Treaty which provides for preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment, prudent and rational utilization of natural resources and promoting measures at international level to deal with regional and worldwide environmental problems,

- having regard to Article 130u of the EC Treaty which calls for an active contribution to the campaign against poverty in the developing countries,

- having regard to the Commission communication, COM(96)0187 - C4-0273/96 ((OJ C 166, 10.6.1996, p. 2.)),

- having regard to the outcome of a hearing in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy on 2 October 1996,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0040/97),

A. whereas the chemical industry in Europe is undergoing a structural change necessitated by the globalization of markets,

B. whereas the chemical industry in the EU is one of the dominant sectors of the economy with the highest share of exports,

C. whereas the chemical industry, as an industry of key importance, makes a substantial contribution to economic development in Europe and in the world,

D. whereas the chemical industry and the sectors dependent upon it are major providers of high-quality jobs in Europe,

E. whereas the chemical industry can make a major contribution to sustainable, environmentally compatible development,

F. whereas it is the most important task of the Member States and the European Union to guarantee a reliable business environment to ensure fair competition, and to safeguard employment levels in the sector concerned and protection of the environment,

G. whereas the chemical industry is itself largely responsible for managing the structural change and improving competitiveness,

H. whereas, despite all the challenges of globalization and shifting markets, the chemical industry must continue to be one of the leading industrial sectors in Europe,

I. whereas the chemical industry is not only the EU's second largest manufacturing industry but also one of the fastest growing industries with record profits and an impressive export performance and trade surplus;

J. whereas, however, despite an annual growth rate of 3 % in the sector in the last decade (1985-1994) the employment losses in the same period were considerable (more than 130,000 people) and employment in the sector (currently around 1.6 million) is forecast to decline further;

K. whereas exports are increasingly being replaced by local production in the countries where the European chemical industry used to sell its products,

L. whereas the European chemical industry's technological lead over other regions has been reduced,

M. whereas in order to secure its competitiveness the industry is forced to increase further its productivity,

N. whereas a stable common currency will make the industry less dependent on fluctuations in the dollar,

O. whereas the chemical industry, as an industry of key importance, can and must make an outstanding contribution towards a worldwide, sustainable and acceptable development,

P. whereas keen competition in a market economy with ecological objectives produces better results for mankind and the environment than controls and a planned economy,

Q. whereas the chemical industry and the trade unions are prepared to cooperate constructively with the Commission and Parliament,

1. Notes that with its communication on the chemical industry the Commission has submitted a serviceable tool for a European action programme to improve competitiveness;

2. Points out, however, that strengthening the competitiveness of the chemical industry is not a political end in itself but draws its legitimacy only from its potential to achieve a higher quality of life for our generation and future generations;

3. Stresses the need for better coordination of industrial policy with other policy instruments, i.e. competition policy, internal market policy and trade policy; calls on the Commission to present an annual report to the European Parliament and the Council on the coordination of these policy areas;

4. Is of the opinion that implementation of the individual measures proposed requires close cooperation not only with the industry but also with the workers' representatives, consumers and NGOs active in the field of environmental protection;

5. Points out that the measures proposed must be appropriate to the special structure of the chemical industry with a small number of large concerns operating worldwide and thousands of small and medium-sized firms;

6. Stresses that the communication and the measures for the chemical industry could set the tone for the Community's overall industrial policy and also act as a model for promoting sustainable development by ensuring a high level of protection of the environment and improvement of its quality;

7. Calls for the chemical industry to respond actively to the consumer trend for environmentally compatible products;

8. Notes that for a number of reasons specific to Europe the competitiveness of the chemical industry is clearly limited;

9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to harmonize at a high level the environmental requirements of the individual Member States, which still differ widely, and to submit appropriate proposals to Parliament with a view to eliminating these differences;

10. Supports the commission's view that environmental leadership can stimulate innovation, thereby giving the European chemical industry a competitive edge as well as creating a good corporate public image;

11. Calls on the chemical industry, despite the need to move production closer to the markets, to keep total employment in Europe at a high level and to offset, as far as possible, job losses in traditional sectors of the industry by creating new jobs in developing market segments;

12. Calls, however, for all possible ways of retaining research and development activities in Europe, for example, encouraging and strengthening the links between companies and universities and other research institutions, to be properly looked into before such activities are shifted out of Europe;

13. Calls on the industry, the Commission and the Member States to use the chemical industry as a model for the promotion of a social dialogue on possibilities for technological development; a social consensus achieved in this way will increase the social acceptability of certain products and technologies, e.g. biological and genetic engineering, which are important to the chemical industry, in an ethically acceptable framework;

14. Calls for the funding of a programme for the establishment and operation of a European databank on scientific and technological publications and research, together with a distribution and notification system;

15. Stresses the importance of promoting international cooperation (e.g. by establishing and supporting appropriate data banks, encouraging strategic alliances, involving non-Community undertakings in the EU framework programmes for R& D, promoting public and private research and making use of the resources of European university research centres), and believes that the EU should continue to support an expansion of Europe's telecommunications networks and an improvement in worldwide network links;

16. Asks the Commission to submit an analysis of R& D investment by European chemicals companies in countries outside the EU and draw up proposals for a strategy to encourage greater R& D investment in the Union by chemical companies from outside Europe;

17. Notes that regulatory state intervention should not just be concerned with restricting or preventing the use of chemical products;

18. Calls on the chemical industry to launch, or broaden, an active dialogue with politicians, scientists, the trade unions and other relevant institutions in society;

19. Stresses that European Economic and Monetary Union will mean significant advantages for the export-intensive chemical industry in procuring raw materials, in investments and in the marketing of products;

20. Calls on the industry and all institutions in Europe and in the Member States to sustain in the long term the excellent vocational training systems and high level of skills of the workers in the chemical industry;

21. Supports training, technical assistance and technological assessment projects for national administrators and for managers within the chemical industry in Central and Eastern Europe, in order to establish a regulatory framework with high environmental standards in the states that have applied for accession;

22. Calls on the industry, through agreements in addition to regulations required by law, to design all its products in such a way that they satisfy economic, ecological and social objectives simultaneously;

23. Stresses the need to make Europe more attractive to those parts of the industry which play a pioneering role in environment-friendly chemical production;

24. Calls on the industry to make greater efforts to develop measures to include protection of the environment in products and processes as a voluntary means of anticipating changes in the law that may become necessary;

25. Insists that the European chemical industry should apply the same high standards worldwide in the safety and environmental compatibility of its products and production processes;

26. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement the objectives of industrial and environmental policy within the given regulatory framework through a combination of statutory provisions and market economy incentives;

27. Calls on the Commission to submit a specific proposal aimed on the one hand at reducing the excessive rules and regulations on innovation in the chemical industry, and on the other hand at achieving a minimum level of legislation throughout the EU on grounds of competitiveness and in the light of environmental considerations;

28. Calls for a significant reduction in the length of registration and licensing procedures for investments and products in the EU and the removal of bureaucratic obstacles in the Member States with the longest testing periods;

29. Calls on the Commission to submit for each proposal for a directive or regulation an assessment of the legal consequences and a realistic cost-benefit analysis for businesses and society utilising Best Available Technology;

30. Advocates further liberalization of world trade and calls on the Commission to conclude, or to draft, multinational investment protection agreements, in particular with developing and newly industrializing countries (NICs) to improve protection of investments;

31. Stresses the importance of trans-European networks for improving infrastructure in Europe in the interests of industry, and calls for the system of raw material and product pipelines to be included and developed appropriately;

32. Calls on the Commission to promote as a matter of urgency the infrastructure measures required in the basic chemicals sector to extend the network of pipelines used to transport raw materials and intermediates, with the priorities being to link the petrochemical sites in north central Europe with those in southern and northern Europe and those in the process of being restructured in eastern Europe, and to ensure public involvement in the financing of the work required, via the Structural Funds or other assisted funding instruments;

33. Believes that an extended network of pipelines for raw materials and intermediates between different production sites would be a safer solution for the transport of chemicals in the EU, provided that appropriate materials are used and constant monitoring is assured by means of appropriate technical measures; furthermore believes that such a network would reduce transportation of dangerous materials by rail and road and damage to the environment and health in the event of any accidents;

34. Believes that the 'Polluter Pays¨ principle must be generally applied where harm is caused to the environment or to health, whereas it should be possible for the Structural Funds to be used to clean up contaminated land where no polluter can be held legally responsible;

35. Calls on the Commission to seek agreements at international level, at least including the OECD countries and the NICs, in order to achieve the highest possible standards worldwide;

36. Calls for an assessment of the impact of new environmental measures in Europe, which are not agreed internationally, on the competitiveness of European industry;

37. Urges the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers within the WTO and for no new barriers to be erected by Europe;

38. Calls on the Commission to target support for R& D activities, in particular of SMEs, and for SMEs' access to risk capital in the chemical industry, and to submit a specific R& D programme to that end giving priority to environmental innovation;

39. Calls for a list of Commission measures specifically for improving the protection of intellectual property and measures against patent and product piracy;

40. Calls for greater involvement of the chemical industry, as a multidisciplinary industry of key importance, in the task forces;

41. Believes there is a need to develop both the transatlantic business dialogue with the USA and the business dialogue with Japan, and calls for greater emphasis on specific deregulation measures;

42. Calls on the Commission to make its measures to improve health protection relate not only to conditions for the general public but also to the specific workplace;

43. Calls on the Commission to submit to Parliament specific proposals on the (re- )training of scientists under the Structural Funds and the Socrates and Leonardo programmes;

44. Believes it is essential for the proposed programme of work by the Commission and industry to be discussed at regular intervals with Parliament, and for a written report to be drawn up at least once a year;

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