Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-13-Speech-4-032"
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"en.20020613.2.4-032"2
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"Mr President, I add my congratulations to Mrs Vlasto for her report, which was adopted unanimously in the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy. It deals with the issue of the Lisbon European Council which had the objective of making the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world and link that to the Feira Council which endorsed a European charter for small enterprises. Clearly, as Mrs Vlasto said, small enterprises are one of the keys to success in the European economies.
I should like to make three points. Firstly, the report details the very low levels of investment in research and development – 1.19% of GDP inside the European Union. This is particularly acute in industrial sectors dominated by SMEs.
I would like us to look at the idea, at a European level, of research institutes paid for by a levy on the relevant industries, which the Japanese have used so successfully in getting innovation in research and development in such industrial sectors.
Secondly, we need to look at the issue of better regulation to simplify and streamline our regulations. I have no problem with imposing burdens on business to improve, for example, the environment, but we need value for money. One of the recent studies in the United Kingdom suggested that the end of vehicle life directive, for example, cost GBP 400 million a year and benefits the environment only to the tune of GBP 100 million a year. If that is correct, that is something that should not have been adopted into law in the European Union.
So we need to be aware of the impact of our legislation on business and jobs. Therefore we support the Chichester amendment in principle and will be voting in favour of it.
Thirdly, we must look more widely at whether SMEs that serve local markets only should have the same burdens imposed on them as large companies exporting around the European Union and outside. In many cases local knowledge can suffice to protect consumers. Regulations are needed when the goods and services from anonymous companies are remote from the consumer both geographically and in terms of local knowledge."@en1
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