WRITTEN QUESTION E-1244/96 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (23 May 1996)

Subject: Industrial policy

Regarding the industrial competitiveness policy for the European Union, the action programme and the timetable for implementing the measures announced in the communication 'An industrial competitiveness policy for the European Union' (COM(94)319 final), the Commission has identified priority actions and intends to make an immediate start on those actions that are within its direct competence. However, the Commission starts from the premise that although it is primarily the responsibility of companies to guarantee their own competitiveness on the market, public authorities should also coordinate all actions that may improve industry's performance.

Does the Commission not take the view that the priority actions involve too many separate measures, and that traditional sectors of activity are dealt with too much in isolation from each other?

Moreover, does it not consider it necessary to clarify what will be the respective roles of private companies and the State and of the Community and its Member States and how this division of responsibilities will operate?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1244/96, E-1245/96, E-1246/96, E-1247/96 and E-1248/96 given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (4 July 1996)

The measures set out in the communication 'An industrial competitiveness policy for the European Union' ((Doc. COM(94) 319. )) and the action programme for implementing the initiatives announced in it ((Doc. COM(95) 87. )) are directly linked to the four priorities of industrial policy, viz. to promote intangible investment, to develop industrial cooperation, to ensure fair competition and to modernize the role of public authorities vis-à-vis industry.

The division of responsibilities between the Community and the Member States to ensure a coherent set of measures which may have a beneficial impact on industrial efficiency derives from the provisions of the EC Treaty, and in particular Article 130.

The communication emphasizes the need for better integration of vocational training into other Community policies and indicates the contributions made by the Leonardo and SME Community programmes.

Ensuring fair competition - one of the priorities of the Community's industrial policy - has both internal and external implications. Internally, competition policy covers the whole of the internal market, where controls on public aid, important as they may be, are not the only instrument. Externally, competition policy aims primarily to improve the functioning of markets and in particular to gain access for European industries to world markets. The communication and the action programme define a series of measures to attain this objective.

The Commission fully shares the Honourable Member's view that closer cooperation with the authorities responsible for competition in third countries is a priority, even in the absence of multilateral rules on competition. In its experience, the Commission has found that such cooperation often leads to a convergence of action by those authorities, even where their respective competition rules are different. However, closer links (in particular bilateral ones) with the competition authorities of third countries need to go hand in hand with a multilateral effort aimed at ensuring that the world's principal commercial players each have a set of competition rules as well as tools enabling these rules to be effectively applied, and that, on this basis, these countries pursue policies aimed at eliminating restrictive practices which constitute obstacles to market access.

The communication emphasizes that a stable, predictable macro-economic environment naturally remains a prerequisite for strengthening industrial competitiveness. Furthermore, the Commission lays down guidelines each year for the improvement of the macro-economic framework.

Additionally, the Commission's annual programme provides for the examination in 1996 of a revised action programme for implementing industrial policy which will include additional measures to make European industry more competitive.