WRITTEN QUESTION E-0468/03 by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Community productivity.
Date: 2003-02-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union, exchange of information, production policy, productivity, research and development, research body, research policy

C 11 E/88

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.1.2004

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2003)

Article 39 of the EC Treaty guarantees the right for nationals of the Member States to move freely within
the territory of the Member States for work. For self-employed persons the freedom of establishment is laid
down in Article 43 of the EC Treaty. It guarantees the right to take up and pursue activites as self-
employed persons and to set up and manage undertakings under the conditions laid down for its own
nationals by the law of the Member State where such establishment is effected.

On the basis of the question received, the Commission does not know to which difficulties encountered by
taxi drivers when moving to another Member State for work the Honourable Member is referring to. If the
Honourable Member has any concrete cases of non-compliance with Community-law, he is invited to send
them to the Commission to be examined by its services.

(2004/C 11 E/092)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0468/03

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(20 February 2003)

Subject: Community productivity

One of the fundamental objectives of the Lisbon strategy is to increase the EU’s productivity.

The European Union’s low productivity, combined with a high rate of unemployment and the worrying
slowness in technological
is putting the Union’s economy at a competitive disadvantage
compared with the US and Japan.

innovation,

There are important research centres in the Member States which are studying and carefully considering
the issue of productivity, and their reflections should help us to adopt proposals to improve the
Community’s productivity.

Does the Commission consider that we are taking full advantage of the information provided by these
centres?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2003)

The Commission pays close attention to the findings of research centres in the Member States and also to
those based in other parts of the world. Such research broadens the base of information which is used to
formulate policy. The Commission is in contact with these research centres through networks, seminars,
studies and reading the academic literature.

As regards productivity some examples of relevant research centres are the Groningen Growth and
Development Centre, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the Commission’s own Joint
Research Centre which has an Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). In particular, IPTS uses
external advisory groups, such as a group of eminent economists including Nobel Prize winner Robert
Solow, William Branson, David Ulph, Jean-Jaques Laffont and Christian von Weiszacker and also operates
a series of networks such as the European Science and Technology Observatory (ESTO) network which
draws on the expertise of more than 40 institutions including all the major European think-tanks. An
example of Commission contact with research centres is the Joint Research Centre’s upcoming workshop
on information and communication technology and productivity at which researchers from different
centres will be speaking and attending. They will discuss the possible contributions of information and
communications technologies to differences in productivity growth within Europe and between Europe
and the United States.