A4-0387/97

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on benchmarking - implementation of an instrument available to economic actors and public authorities (COM(97)0153 - C4-0387/97)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication, COM(97)0153 - C4-0387/97,

- having regard to its resolution of 9 April 1997 on the Commission communication on benchmarking the competitiveness of European industry (COM(96)0463 - C4-0622/96) (( OJ C 132, 28.4.1997, p. 106.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 29 June 1995 on the Commission communication on an industrial competitiveness policy for the European Union (COM(94)0319 - C4-0140/94) (( OJ C 183, 17.7.95, p. 26.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 9 March 1994 on the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment (COM(93)0700 - C3-0509/93 ) (( OJ C 91, 28.3.94, p. 124.)),

- having regard to the conclusions of the Dublin European Council and the Amsterdam European Council,

- having regard to the conclusions of the Industry Councils of 14 November 1996 and 24 April 1997,

- having regard to the reports of the Competitiveness Advisory Group,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy (A4-0387/97),

A. whereas benchmarking at three levels (firms, sectors and business environment) can support the development of an employment strategy for the European Union and its Member States, enhance overall economic competitiveness and contribute to economic convergence by closing gaps in productivity and reducing economic inequality,

B. whereas the Commission communication on benchmarking the competitiveness of European industry and Parliament's abovementioned resolution of 9 April 1997on this communication identified comparative weaknesses in the performance of the European Union economy, which are the result of many factors (costs, productivity, macroeconomic framework conditions) adversely affecting the European economy as a whole and the causes of which must be combated,

C. whereas structural unemployment in the European Union is increasing regularly; whereas at the end of each recession residual unemployment levels are higher than those at the beginning,

D. whereas benchmarking can only succeed through an inclusive partnership approach involving all social partners, especially trade unions, SMEs and representatives of business and public authorities, which must make every effort to establish a favourable business climate,

1. Welcomes the Commission communication on benchmarking - implementation of an instrument available to economic actors and public authorities;

2. Welcomes the Commission's observations that benchmarking and in particular measures to implement the changes shown by benchmarking to be necessary to improve competitiveness are not one-off exercises limited in time, but must be viewed as permanent and on-going;

3. Welcomes the Commission's intention to establish a European network of expertise for enterprises to ensure the availability of coherent, trustworthy and equivalent services, especially for SMEs, throughout the European Union;

4. Welcomes the Commission's commitment to annual budgeting or multi-annual programme support for benchmarking, whichever action proves most suitable in the light of experience gained;

5. Welcomes the Commission's announcement of a high-level group on benchmarking, composed of industrialists, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and business organizations, trade unions, consumers and the civil society; stresses the importance for the high-level group to use the highest-quality statistical information available, and draws attention to the potential of Eurostat in this respect;

6. Believes that the full added value of benchmarking to the European Union will be best realized if the particular needs of SMEs are taken into account as a priority and calls in particular for SMEs to be directly involved in the high-level group through participants specifically representing them, and also in the establishment of the European network of benchmarking expertise;

7. Asks to be directly involved with the work of the high-level group through the granting of observer status to a small number of its Members, and asks once again to be invited to participate in the annual tripartite benchmark assessment visits to Japan and the United States of America organised by the Commission;

8. Considers that particular attention should be given to the benchmarking of competitiveness with regard to the business environment, since this forms the basis for the creation of a favourable economic, social and legislative climate to ensure business competitiveness, generate investment and stimulate economic activity;

9. Calls on all Member States to make every effort to participate fully in the initiatives launched by the Commission, in particular the pilot project programme which must be developed further to integrate benchmarking into European competitiveness policies;

10. Rejects any narrow definition of industrial competitiveness benchmarking focused solely on wage-price competition, as there is no evidence to link European Union losses in manufacturing market share to labour costs;

11. Calls for a specific amendment to the 'Development of Human Resources¨ benchmarking pilot project to give much higher priority to the quality of managerial skills and training in the European Union, given that cost differentials between European firms and their Japanese and American counterparts are frequently due to operational inefficiencies and not labour market inefficiencies; calls also for high priority to be given to the interface between education and training on the one hand and the workplace on the other, as this is an area where the EU is clearly lagging behind other leading world economies; believes that this should be done firmly within the context of lifelong learning;

12. Calls on the Commission to introduce an extra pilot project which will investigate why certain European Union sectors, such as food, drink, tobacco and furniture all outperform their Japanese and American counterparts for industrial added value, and why a number of European Union Member States outperform Japan and the United States of America in terms of job creation;

13. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to explore the possible benefits of benchmarking through the implementation of best practice on the employment market (cost of labour, adaptability of workforce, investment in human resources), which will contribute to its flexibility, and in the area of health and safety in the workplace, factors which enhance efficiency, output and productivity gains;

14. Calls on the Commission to investigate the possibility of an additional benchmarking pilot project on infrastructure investment in the European Union;

15. Calls on the Commission to report back on the results of the pilot projects to the European Parliament and, building upon these pilot projects, propose a work programme with a specific timetable and covering specific subjects for the future work on benchmarking, draw up an annual report on developments in the area of benchmarking and set out the action which must be taken by the Member States or as part of Community policy in the light of the results obtained from benchmarking;

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