A4-0022/95

Resolution on the XXIIIrd Competition Report from the Commission

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the XXIIIrd Competition Report from the Commission (COM(94)0161),

- having regard to the Commission's response to its resolution of 8 February 1994 ((OJ C 61, 28.2.1994, p. 25.)) on the XXIInd report,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights and of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (A4-0022/95),

A. whereas the recognition of the specific suitability of market economy conciliation processes is a cornerstone of economic rationality and attempts to replace market prices with prices fixed by policy or with monopoly prices have repeatedly proved inefficient in the development of European integration,

B. whereas the prohibition of state aid pursuant to Article 92 of the EC Treaty is to be seen as one of the conditions for the creation, pursuant to Article 130 of the EC Treaty, of fair competition without social, ecological or subsidy-based dumping,

The interplay between competition policy and industrial policy

1. Considers that competition policy and industrial policy are instruments in the service of the ultimate goals of the European Union, namely the harmonious and balanced development of economic activities throughout the Community, sustainable and non-inflationary growth respecting the environment, a high degree of convergence of economic performance, a high level of employment and social protection, the raising of the standard of living and quality of life, and economic and social cohesion among Member States (Article 2 of the EC Treaty);

2. Underlines that the industrial policy has to pursue its objectives in a way that does not distort competition and reiterates the instrumental value of both competition policy and industrial policy with regard to the Community economy's requirements;

3. Considers that, if competition policy is to be both rigorous and equitable, it is essential to modify the main rules concerning transparency, the duration of procedures, legal certainty and monitoring, while retaining the existing system as set out in the Treaty;

4. Is concerned at the trend towards increasingly overt interference by governments, especially with regard to state aid, aimed at qualifying or reducing the Commission's powers under the Treaty on European Union; considers that the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference should be used to protect the Commission's political role in the definition of competition policy, since it is the sole institution directly under the democratic control of the European Parliament;

Structure of the report

5. Welcomes the new structure of the report, including the use of the AMDATA database; appeals, however, for an analysis in the comments on the trend in concentration and competition in Europe to be included in future reports;

6. Requests the incorporation in future annual competition reports of a substantial report on the operation of the cooperation agreement with the United States of America regarding the application of competition rules;

European competition policy in 1993

7. Welcomes the fact that in 1993 the Commission attempted to ensure more competition in several sectors without encouraging the spread of private monopolies, an example being telecommunications, a very important sector for the competitiveness of the whole of European industry;

8. Notes with approval that the Commission also took action at international level in 1993 by negotiating with two of the EU's major trading partners, Japan and the United States, preparing for the establishment of the EEA, concluding agreements with the Central and Eastern European countries and helping to shape the international framework that has taken the place of the traditional GATT trade agreements; sees a need for the removal of barriers to international trade no longer to consist solely in the abolition of state obstacles but also to be attributable to the competitive behaviour of undertakings;

9. Recognizes that the Commission's DG IV has a growing workload and encourages the Commission to consider ways of decentralizing the application of the rules on competition with the aim of achieving a reasonable division of labour between the Commission and the Member States;

10. Is concerned, however, that DG IV's powers over certain aspects of the monitoring of competition - especially state aid - are evidently passing to other Directorates-General, and considers that improved cooperation between DG IV and other Directorates-General is necessary in order to achieve greater consistency and coordination;

The new demands on competition policy

11. Refers to the major contribution that competition policy is making to the completion of the internal market by monitoring concerted business practices, mergers and state aid; but considers it vital that the Commission should be enabled to act as rapidly as possible on the basis of Regulation 4064/89 (EEC) ((OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1.)) on the control of concentrations between undertakings, revised so as to take greater account of the new situations arising from the opening up of frontiers;

12. Calls on the Commission to strengthen its concern for pluralism and to make use of all means of competition policy and merger control to prevent distortions of competition in sectors as important as the mass media and the new communication technologies;

13. Welcomes the conclusion of the GATT Uruguay Round and the progress it will bring in the liberalization of international trade, and expects the WTO soon to be in a position to deal with the still outstanding problems;

14. Welcomes, therefore, the idea of developing an international system of competition based on reciprocity, and calls on the Commission to encourage the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral agreements on the application of the competition rules, for example with NAFTA; calls on the Commission to seek within the World Trade Organization (WTO) to ensure the introduction of international competition rules in order to curb and monitor restrictions of competition, mergers of market-dominating enterprises, the emergence of oligopolistic structures and the dominant position of multinational enterprises in global markets;

15. Calls on the Commission to remove as soon as possible the remaining obstacles to the smooth functioning of the internal market and to commit itself to ensuring the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital;

16. Points out that there would be less concern about the future of the competition policy if it had been possible for all the provisions relating to the European internal market to be implemented on 1 January 1993;

17. Welcomes the regional policy being pursued by the Commission in that general investment aid may now be granted only to underdeveloped regions and undertakings in difficulty due to economic circumstances, with exemptions permitted only for the promotion of small- and medium-sized enterprises;

Widening the scope of the competition policy

18. Points out that widening the scope of the competition policy also includes measures for the protection of the environment; emphasizes the need, however, for environmental standards in the Member States to be harmonized upwards (for example, ecotax on energy) in order to prevent distortions of competition;

19. Considers that, in order to guarantee a strict system of competition, social legislation should also be harmonized; the opt-out clause in the social sphere is a distortion of competition and, as such, is unacceptable;

20. Welcomes the signing of association agreements with another two Central and Eastern European countries, Romania and Bulgaria (such agreements having previously been concluded with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic); notes that these agreements cover important aspects of competition policy and provide for the legislation of these countries to be progressively approximated to the EU rules on competition; and proposes that the Commission should insist that programmes be adopted for restructuring and the reduction of capacities in industrial sectors producing a surplus and the gradual reduction of public aid in accordance with time-limits which may vary according to the situation in each country;

Sectoral problems

21. Regrets that the programme to reduce capacities in the steel market in 1993 failed, except in the case of firms which required public aid for restructuring programmes; is surprised that some other steel firms are announcing increases in capacity and wonders which Community industrial policy governs this sector;

22. Agrees with the view expressed by Commissioner Van Miert at the hearing before the European Parliament that competition policy is not a monolithic structure but is constantly changing in accordance with developments in economic, social or environmental conditions and therefore requests that for shipping policy the Commission should acknowledge the increasingly global nature of sea transport, including the integrated procedures used before and after the transport of containers, and not jeopardize the existence of European shipping companies by a narrow competition policy, since they face stiff competition, especially from East Asia;

23. Requests that the establishment of an internal market in energy be based on a common energy policy and stresses that the creation of an internal energy market must not jeopardize security of supply and the fulfilment of public service obligations by firms in the sector;

24. Notes the problem of the banking interchange fees that will have to be entered into between banks for the settlement of cross-border payments and that will have to be compatible with the competition provisions; calls on the Commission to clarify how it intends to interpret competition rules in this area;

Competition policy and the European citizen

25. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to act in accordance with the greatest possible transparency and maximum publicity to enable the citizens of Europe to understand the advantages of the single market and the proper and fair application of competition policy;

26. Calls on the Commission to strike a balance between the objective of introducing competition in sectors which traditionally offer public services and the need to offer such services while respecting such principles as equality, universality, continuity and transparency;

State aid

27. Endorses the Commission's view that it should continue to be the only body authorized to take decisions on state aid in the Union; applauds the fact that the Heads of State or Government have likewise referred to the importance of enforcing the Community's competition policy in the area of state aid, a strategy advocated in the White Paper;

28. Calls on the Commission to submit to the European Parliament each year comprehensive, country-by-country reports on the public aid granted;

29. Expresses its concern at the application of the principle of authorizing public aid 'for the last time' to certain industrial sectors and undertakings in the European Union in view of the possible emergence of a number of exceptional international factors which may affect the Community's industrial competitiveness;

30. Calls on the Commission to apply strictly the new guidelines in the sphere of state aid to air transport, particularly the principle that restructuring aid is to be granted a second time only in exceptional, unforeseeable circumstances beyond the firm's control (force majeure);

31. Recognizes that the relationship between public undertakings and their state shareholders can pose problems; welcomes, therefore, the Commission's adoption in 1993 of a directive amending an earlier directive on the transparency of financial relations between the Member States and public undertakings;

Procedures

32. Welcomes the measures taken by the Commission in 1993 to simplify and speed up certain procedures; welcomes the Commission's proposal for the amendment of the abovementioned regulation on the control of concentrations between undertakings, which would substantially reduce the level of turnover at which the Commission was required to act;

33. Endorses the greater flexibility this amendment would bring, enabling the Commission to leave it to the national authorities to investigate concentrations that reached this level but were entirely national in scope;

34. Calls on the Commission to study the future development of the European merger control policy, its procedures and institutional aspects, by exchanges of experience and views with the associations and interest groups involved in business and to report back to Parliament;

35. Calls on the Commission to report on conflicts of objectives between the competition policy in the narrower sense, the monitoring of state aid and the anti-dumping procedures and to submit proposals for solutions in its next report;

36. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the appropriate authorities in the Member States and EFTA countries and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and EFTA countries.