Date: 2013-07-01
Mr President, I wish to thank the rapporteur, Mr Bartolozzi, for his comprehensive proposal and for Parliament's strong support for the bioeconomy strategy and action plan. We fully endorse the view that a modern, well-functioning bioeconomy is a prerequisite for achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Like Parliament, the Commission sees in the bioeconomy a convergence of opportunities and objectives: a smart use of our biological resources from land and seas; a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy; a reindustrialisation of Europe based on innovation and the latest scientific knowledge; food security for all; and the development of new jobs and new sources of economic growth, not least in rural and maritime regions. All these aspects are especially relevant in the context of the economic difficulties currently facing Europe. Since the adoption of the bioeconomy strategy and action plan in early 2012, considerable progress has been made. The bioeconomy is still developing, so one of our important objectives has been to establish a Bioeconomy Observatory, to provide policy-makers, primary producers, industry and other stakeholders with authoritative, up-to-date information about relevant research, policy, and market developments. This is the first time in the world that an observatory of this kind has been set up. It will require the positive engagement of many different organisations to make this initiative a success. The Commission's Joint Research Centre is already working hard to get the observatory up and running and producing results. We have also committed to establish a Bioeconomy Panel, to facilitate discussion, joint actions and exchange of experience between different stakeholder groups: researchers, producers, industry, civil society, and public administrations at regional, national and EU level. The 30 members of the panel have been selected, and the first meeting is scheduled to take place in September. I am pleased to confirm our invitation to Parliament to nominate an observer to this Bioeconomy Panel. This will help to further consolidate the alignment between our two institutions on issues related to the bioeconomy. In February this year we organised, together with the Irish Presidency, the second annual European stakeholders' conference on the bioeconomy, bringing together over 500 people representing a wide variety of different interests related to the bioeconomy. We are grateful to MEPs Paolo Bartolozzi and Mairead McGuinness for the valuable contributions that they made to this event. Many of the conclusions of the conference are echoed in the report that you are debating today, such as the need for a coherent, coordinated policy; the need for investments in skills and training; and, the need for transparent and inclusive dialogue to ensure that the bioeconomy is built on broad-based public support. We look forward to working with the Italian Presidency of the EU in organising the next conference in the second half of 2014. As you all know, just last week the European Parliament and Council, together with the Commission, reached political agreement on Horizon 2020 the next funding programme for research, innovation and science. Let me assure you that within Horizon 2020 there will be a substantial budget for bioeconomy-related research and innovation. This will include a significant proportion of funding for a new Public- Private Partnership on bio-based industries. The Commission very much appreciates the clear support that the Parliament report gives to this PPP and to the bioeconomy research budget as a whole. This PPP in particular will help to finance pilot and demonstration activities of the kind that the draft resolution calls for. Finally, I would like to underline that the Commission is very pleased that the draft resolution repeats the call to EU Member States to develop their own national and regional bioeconomy strategies. I could not agree more. While there is much we can and will do at an EU level, the bioeconomy will only realise its full potential if actors at national and regional level understand the opportunities that this presents for them and put in place the appropriate policies, funding, and governance mechanisms.