§ Mrs. HumbleTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Industry Council held in Brussels on 7 May. [43434]
§ Mrs. BeckettI chaired a meeting of the EU Industry Council on 7 May.
The Council adopted a Regulation on new rules on aid to shipbuilding. Operating aid will be eliminated from end 2000 and remaining forms of support will be re-focused to improve the industry's competitiveness. There will be new aid for innovation and the opening up of regional aid. A strict limit will be placed on restructuring aid and strengthened monitoring provisions will be introduced. These measures will lead to an overall reduction in the level of European shipbuilding subsidies. The new aid regime is an achievement for our Presidency and meets the interests of UK shipyards.
The main outstanding questions before the Council were the date when operating aid should be abolished and the restrictions that should be placed on the existing system of regional aid to reduce distortion in competition. After a long and thorough discussion, a compromise was finally agreed with the abolition of operating aid at the end of 2000 and regional aid ceilings of 22.5 per cent for "A" regions and 12.5 per cent. for "C" regions (the so called "A" regions are Europe's poorest and "C" regions are less poor). The regulation does not affect the treatment of FPSOs. There will also be Commission declarations on the following: the strict application of the regional aid rules; the aid cumulation rule; and the viability criterion for restructuring aid, and a Council statement that the agreement on regional aid is without prejudice to the Community regional state aid policy.
538WThe Council had an in-depth discussion on a proposed Regulation laying down detailed rules for the application of state aid rules in general. The Presidency put forward a compromise text and the debate focused on the three main issues still to be settled, namely; time limits for Commission action; Commission powers in respect of recovery of unlawful aid and a period of limitation on Commission action.
Good progress was made with a clear political will in favour of a Regulation and the Presidency concluded that further work should be undertaken by officials to enable the Council to reach a political agreement.
As a new initiative, I invited Industry Ministers to have dinner with representatives of industry, on the eve of the Council to discuss competitiveness. I see this as an important step in developing a real dialogue between industry and the Council of Ministers. The Council meeting held a debate on the competitiveness of European Industry, mainly focusing on the key factors at national and supra-national level influencing competitiveness of EU industry and how they can be achieved. The meeting also discussed one of the key factors, namely the availability of appropriate finance for innovative companies.
I concluded that there had been agreement on the importance of competitiveness and on the key factor as identified by the dinner and confirmed by the Council's discussion, namely: encouraging competition, efficient functioning of the Internal Market, a framework for innovation, continuous development of skills and labour adaptability, efficient markets for risk capital, improved environment for business start-up and entrepreneurship. There was strong support for continuing the Council's work on competitiveness with Austria and Finland pledging to do so in their forthcoming Presidencies.
The Council took note of a progress report by the Commission on the Business Environment Simplification Task Force (BEST) and a Commission communication on Fostering Entrepreneurship in Europe. The Presidency noted that there was agreement on the importance of entrepreneurship for competitiveness, growth and jobs.
The Council also agreed conclusions on the competitiveness of the Construction Industry and a plan of action to increase the competitiveness of the European Textile and Clothing Industry.
There were Commission presentations on a proposed directive on late payment, the year 2000 computer problem, delocalisation, restructuring of the steel industry in Central and Eastern Europe, Six-monthly report on the monitoring of steel aid cases and a report on the work of the high level group dealing with the implications of industrial change.