WRITTEN QUESTION E-2295/01

by Christoph Konrad (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(31 July 2001)

Subject: Unbalanced membership of the Enterprise Policy Group

1. What is the Commission's purpose in setting up, within the Directorate-General for Enterprise, the Enterprise Policy Group which began work on 11 June 2001?

2. How does the Commission justify the fact that, of the 35 members of this Group, only 4 come from the trade sector, even though additional jobs and training places in Europe are mostly being created in SMEs in the trade, craft and service sectors? Why are none of these representatives from Germany, which is after all the [EU's] largest trading nation? (Does not the Commission not consider that this body's membership as a whole is somewhat unbalanced, given that only 4 of its members come from Germany?)

3. How does the Commission justify dissolving, and not replacing, the Committee on Commerce and Distribution of the former DG XXII, in which leading representatives from the trade and service sectors provided valuable advice to the Commission? Does the Commission propose to reinstate this committee?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(21 September 2001)

The Commission's purpose in setting up the Enterprise Policy Group within the Directorate-General for Enterprise is to make enterprise policy more transparent and effective and assign it a greater role in coping with the challenges of the knowledge-based economy through consultation, deliberation and discussion with high level experts from the business world and representatives of the Member States. The Enterprise Policy Group was therefore set up in the form of two representative bodies: the first is made up of representatives from the Member States, the second (the Professional Chamber) is composed of members appointed by the Commission. It began its activities on 11 June 2001.

The 35 members of the Professional Chamber were chosen following an open selection procedure(1), during which the Commission also took proposals from professional associations or Member States into account. The Commission received 453 applications of a very high or high level. In total the applications for the 35 posts were supported by 800 international or national associations. Priority was given to the equal treatment of all applications, by conducting a thorough and detailed analysis to examine each application in accordance with objective criteria which looked first and foremost at the personal qualities and profiles of the applicant, and took into account extensive sectoral and geographical coverage. Germany is up alongside France, Italy and the United Kingdom with four representatives on this body. In order to represent the broadest possible spectrum of the economy, the representatives were chosen from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large enterprises and the ranks of the self-employed, as well as from various industrial and services sectors.

The Enterprise Policy Group was set up as part of the drive to rationalise and combine the work carried out by the Commission on best practice through coordination with the Member States. Working parties can be set up on a contractual basis to tackle specific topics. The Commission can invite experts or observers to take part in the activities of the working party, its representative bodies or sub-groups. There are no plans to reinstate the former Directorate-General DG XXIII Committee on Commerce and Distribution, as its work is now covered by the Enterprise Policy Group.

(1) OJ C 326, 17.11.2000.