§ Mr. Jim MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the outcome of the Industry Council held in Brussels on 18 May; and if he will make a statement. [123439]
§ Mr. CabornMy right hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe represented the UK at the EU Industry Council held on 18 May.
The Council had a debate on competitiveness, focusing on the follow-up actions from the Lisbon European Council and broad consensus was reached on the challenges ahead. There was agreement that the new Multi-Annual Programme should concentrate resources where they could benefit SMEs generally and should be adopted by the end of this year. There was also widespread support from member states for adoption at the Feira European Council on 19–20 June of a European Charter for Small Firms with concrete targets and actions.
Several delegations pointed out the need to benchmark Europe's performance against the best in the world to foster a new enterprise policy and the need for greater co-ordination of all the current EU benchmarking exercises.
The Commission introduced the results of the second report on the situation in world shipbuilding, highlighting the continued problems faced with Korea, and progress made on the "Agreed Minutes" with Korea in an attempt to address this situation. It was agreed that discussion should continue with Korea as a matter of urgency on unfair trade practices and that continuation of operating aid beyond the end of this year in the EU would not resolve these problems. The Council asked the Commission to make a further report by the end of September.
The Commission reported on follow up to the conclusions on integrating sustainable development into EU policy which were agreed at the Helsinki European Council last year and its recent communication on integrating sustainable development into the EU non-energy mining industry.
The Commission gave progress reports on the modernisation of competition rules, the impact of electronic commerce on the automotive industry and the future of the European Observatory for Textile and Clothing. It also presented its: eighth survey of state aid; twenty ninth report on competition; monitoring report on restructuring aid to the steel sector.
The Council adopted conclusions on: information and communication technologies and traditional sectors; the state of competitiveness of the steel industry in the EU; and concerted action with the member states in the field of enterprise policy.