EN Official Journal of the European Union C 211/59

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on the European response to the crisis in the automotive Sector

Adopted on 18 June 2009

(2009/C 211/08)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Understanding the gravity of the automotive crisis

1. is concerned about the territorial impact of the automotive crisis that is hitting the automotive industry of the European Union as a whole and is affecting regions in different ways,

2. underlines the knock-on effects of the crisis on supply chains, SMEs and communities across local and regional authorities,

3. underlines the commitment of local and regional authorities to define and implement measures in order to attenuate the effects of the crisis,

The EU contribution to responding to the crisis

4. welcomes this year's 25 March resolution of the European Parliament on the future of the automotive industry,

5. stresses that the automotive industry is of particular importance for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) and employment in Europe and represents one of the main economic pillars in several European regions,

6. requests the European Commission to make a proposal for a common European approach involving local and regional authorities and a wide range of social actors and stakeholders be developed for the automotive sector, taking into account pre-existing structural problems,

7. stresses the danger of protectionism in the context of the economic crisis,

8. underlines the importance of an action to maintain jobs and attenuate the social impact of the crisis on workers and affected employment areas, notably by extending and facilitating access to the European Social Fund and to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, and stresses the importance of promoting, through skills training, the employability of workers,

9. regrets the inadequacy of existing instruments to respond to the specific problems of Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and, in particular, automotive suppliers regardless of their size,

10. demands improved implementation of legal and financing mechanisms at the European level to ensure that SMEs fully benefit from existing or new funding opportunities,

11. asks the European Commission to promote networking between regions highly specialized in the automotive sector through the ‘Regions for economic change’ instrument or any other instrument for territorial or technical cooperation,

Towards a greener automotive industry

12. welcomes the European Commission proposal on the ‘Green Car’ initiative, which respects the principle of sustainable development and encourages regional involvement in the coordination of research and innovation efforts in this field,

13. highlights the importance of ensuring sufficient public funding to boost in particular all actions in the field of RDI, environmentally-friendly technologies and skills improvement in the automotive labour force,

14. encourages all relevant stakeholders to promote initiatives which result in the renewal of the fleet as well as increasing the number of information campaigns on the economic and environmental advantages of energy efficient vehicles,

Promoting constructive dialogue with local and regional authorities

15. demands that the rules of the internal market be observed, as well as the coherence between national and/or regional policies, such as national consumer credit schemes,

16. confirms there is a need to deepen and extend the ongoing dialogue and discussions on the future of the automotive sector and when necessary contributing to the emergence of new industries,

For a better recognition of the territorial dimension of the crisis

17. invites the European Commission to integrate representatives of the Committee of the Regions into the ‘Cars 21’ high-level group,

18. stresses the need for reliable and comparable data on the automotive industry,

19. demands that local and regional authorities be more consulted by Member States in their action in support of the automotive industry, such as participating in a constructive dialogue with car manufacturers, suppliers, employees' organisations and national or European authorities,

20. demands that automotive industries enter into dialogue with employee organisations at the regional or local level; demands that talks with Regional and Local Authorities are organised before major and extraordinary decisions are taken if there would be a strong or unexpected impact on the socio-economic structure of any given territory,

Next steps

21. invites the relevant CoR commission to discuss the European response to the automotive crisis,

22. invites regional and local authorities across the EU to modernise their own car-fleets and support the renewal of those of their dependant organisations or contract partners, in order to achieve reduction in harmful emissions, boost demand for new technologies and send a clear signal to the suppliers within their territories,

23. asks its President to forward this resolution to the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and the Presidencies of the European Union.