European Parliament resolution on the Commission's XXXIIIrd Report on Competition Policy — 2003 (2004/2139(INI))
Date: 2005-02-22
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, State aid, administration of the Institutions, competition policy, international competition, restriction on competition, services of general interest

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P6_TA(2005)0032

Competition policy (2003)

European Parliament resolution on the Commission's XXXIIIrd Report on Competition Policy —
2003 (2004/2139(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the XXXIIIrd Report on Competition Policy — 2003 (SEC(2004)0658),

— having regard to Rules 112(2) and 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A6-0024/2005),

A.

recalling that raising the competitiveness of European businesses is one of the key objectives of the
Lisbon Strategy,

B.

emphasising the need for a continued and vigorous monitoring of distortions in competition,

C. mindful of the business community's need for the highest degree of legal certainty regarding merger

control policy,

D. noting in particular the significant volume of cases undertaken by the Competition Directorate-General
of the Commission, where Commission decisions have either been fully accepted by the parties or
upheld by the Courts,

1. Welcomes the XXXIIIrd report on Competition Policy, which highlights the major structural reforms of
competition policy and enforcement taken forward under Commissioner Monti's leadership;

2.
Congratulates the Commissioner on maintaining constant and vigorous monitoring of distortions in
competition, while undertaking far-reaching reorganisation and renewal of the anti-trust, merger control and
state aid rules and internal reorganisation of the Competition Directorate-General;

3. Welcomes the adoption of a series of acts included in the modernisation package, namely the ini-
tiatives in the field of cooperation between the various enforcers of EU competition rules — the Commis-
sion, national competition authorities and national courts; in this connection, considers that it is also worth
mentioning the appointment of a Chief Competition Economist, the strengthening of the role of the Hear-
ing Officer and the reinforcement of the cartel unit, which will reduce the time required to conclude cartel
cases;

Regrets the need for renewal of the ‘temporary defensive mechanism’ by the Council justifying the
4.
granting of aid of up to EUR 100 million to shipyards in Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark
as a response to unfair competition from shipyards in South Korea, and looks to an early resolution of the
dispute in the World Trade Organisation, before the date of expiry of the current mechanism in March
2005;

5.
Insists that the limited number of cases in which the Commission's decisions have been reviewed by
the Court of Justice and set aside should not be seen as undermining confidence in the overall system of
analysis and enforcement;

6. Welcomes the development of a specific chapter in the Report on Competition Policy highlighting the
Commission's approach in relation to the conditions under which Member States may give financial support
to those entrusted with the operation of services of general interest, and following the Commission's report
to the Laeken European Council of 14 and 15 December 2001, the Green Paper on services of general

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interest (COM(2003)0270) adopted by the Commission in on 21 May 2003 and the Altmark judgment (1),
urges the Commission to bring forward proposals to increase legal certainty, define good governance and
assist national and regional authorities in complying with Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty;

7.
Urges the Commission to continue to review the operation of the judicial system in relation to com-
petition cases, in order to consider improvements to the speed of access to justice, and in order to maximise
the experience and skills of the judiciary dealing with competition cases;

8.
Continues to support a more proactive role for the European Parliament in the development of com-
petition policy through promoting co-decision powers for the Parliament, and regrets that the Commission
and Council were not able to support this in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe;

9. Welcomes the revision of state aid rules reorientating the Commission's interest towards cases and
issues of significance for the further development of the internal market, which has streamlined and sim-
plified notification and the filing of complaints, and clarified further the ‘de minimis’ and R & D principles;

10. Welcomes the view taken by the Commission that state aid for R & D will represent an incentive for
SMEs to engage in more R & D, and the consequent proposed amendment to Regulation (EC) No 70/
2001 (2) on state aid for SMEs in order to include R & D aid, and calls the attention of the Commission to
the differing national capacities within the Member States to engage in such programmes;

Urges the Commission to further develop work on the impact on private companies of emission

11.
trading mechanisms, quotas, allowances, certificates and credits under the Kyoto Protocol agreement;

12. Welcomes the environment-friendly criteria of the Commission applied in the approval of several
environmental aid schemes and urges the Commission to further develop the conditions of transparency
for such schemes so that they may serve as precedents for other regions and Member States;

13.
Congratulates the Commission on responding positively to previous Parliament resolutions by estab-
lishing a dedicated Enforcement Unit for State Aid, charged with the responsibility of enforcing Commission
decisions, particularly in the area of recovering unlawful state aid;

14. Welcomes the further development of the State Aid scoreboard in internet format as an important
instrument for transparency and informing consumers of the Commission's activities;

15. Welcomes the progress towards implementing Commissioner Monti's programme for modernising
the Commission's anti-trust rules, with its increased focus on investigation and penalising hard-core cartels,
but expresses its concern that the 2003 Report on Competition Policy does not appear as yet to demon-
strate any significant reduction in the backlog of cases under investigation by the Commission;

Expresses its concern at the continued failure to achieve full liberalisation in the EU gas and elec-

16.
tricity markets;

17. Welcomes the Commission initiatives in relation to relevant markets, such as telecommunications,
and the setting up of task forces between the Competition and the Information Society DGs to manage
the consultation process;

(1) Case C-280/00 Altmark Trans GmbH and Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg v. Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Altmark

GmbH, and Oberbundesanwalt beim Bundesverwaltungsgericht [2003] ECR I-7747.

(2) OJ L 10, 13.1.2001, p. 33.

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18. Welcomes the Commission's appointment of a Consumer Liaison Officer in order to better develop
and facilitate the Commission's dialogue with consumers;

19.
Believes that the effective application of competition policy is an essential tool to achieve an efficient
market structure which operates in the interests of consumers, and has a positive and significant impact
upon their daily lives; wishes to emphasise that closer integration of the internal market sometimes makes it
more natural to analyse the state of competition on the whole internal market, rather than on different
submarkets (as has been the case in several recent merger decisions), and calls on the Commission to
produce clearer guidelines on its interpretation of ‘the market’ in such cases;

20. Welcomes the Commission's continued commitment to the European Competition Days as an
important opportunity to explain the positive impact of competition policy for consumers in all parts of
the EU, but calls on the national authorities hosting these conferences to integrate consumer organisations
and the national media into the programme planning for the European Competition Days;

21. Welcomes the Commission's new rules on motor vehicle distribution, looks for greater progress in
reducing the major variations between Member States in prices of new motor vehicles, and regrets the
current evidence that these disparities remain significant;

Calls for further progress in relation to the motor vehicle repair market particularly in relation to

22.
access to technical information and easier availability of access to motor car spare parts;

23. Welcomes elements of the Commission's reform of the EC Merger Regulation (1), but regrets that
Parliament's concerns about some elements of the proposal regarding legal certainty and fair process were
not supported by the Commission;

24. Welcomes the reorganisation of the Competition Directorate-General of the Commission in the con-
text of the merger control, particularly the restructuring along sectoral lines, the strengthening of economic
assessment and greater definition concerning the role of consumers;

25. Welcomes the Commission's commitment to help the 10 new Member States to adapt rapidly to the
competition rules, anti-trust legislation and, in particular, state-aid regulation and urges the Commission to
pursue the process of technical assistance and cooperation;

26. Welcomes the Commission's commitment to pursue a policy of enhanced bilateral cooperation with
the Community's main trading partners and to expand multilateral cooperation in the field of competition;
in particular, the Commission must be congratulated for concluding cooperation agreements in competition
matters with the United States, Canada and Japan;

Urges the Commission to continue to cooperate with OECD countries, Asian countries (with a par-

27.
ticular focus on China) and Latin American countries;

Urges the Commission to pursue negotiations with the WTO on the interaction between trade and

28.
competition policy, in the spirit of the Doha Declaration of November 2001;

29.

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

(1) OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1.