Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-28-Speech-3-180"
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"en.20040128.14.3-180"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission shares your concerns about this question and is taking the necessary steps to deal with them. In view of these major challenges that face us in the textiles and clothing sector and which will remain for some years to come, in particular, as you have stressed, the effect of abolishing import quotas on 1 January 2005, the Commission has re-examined its policies and instruments in order to identify measures or lines of action that might make the textiles and clothing sector more competitive. These are reflected in the communication to which you have drawn attention, the one on the future of the textiles and clothing sector adopted by the Commission on 29 October 2003 and welcomed at a Council meeting on competitiveness on 27 November 2003.
You also mentioned, Mrs Bastos, the question of the budget to be used for the implementation of the measures proposed in the Commission communication. Our intention is to use existing Community programmes and investments to implement the specific measures adopted, since we have to move quickly. Each specific measure will be implemented by the appropriate Commission services responsible for the field in question, using its own budget. I can tell you that the field of research and calls for proposals under the framework programme offer potential for interesting projects and I think that also applies in other sectors. I believe I have demonstrated how interested the Commission and Parliament are in this strategic sector for our economy.
As you know, the Union’s strategy for international trade and for Doha is to seek reciprocity for textiles and clothing. Together, these policies and measures seek to give the industry and those working in the sector a clear, predictable and coherent framework that will make it easy to plan strategies and investments in the medium and long term.
The Commission welcomes the support for these initiatives and ideas contained in the resolution on the future of the textiles sector that Parliament will shortly be adopting. The Commission will look closely at the new ideas mentioned in the text of the resolution. Some of the recommendations contained in the communication could be followed by concrete proposals within a relatively short space of time. For the rest, some of the communication’s ideas and suggestions require further investigation before being translated into action.
In order to assist the Commission in these investigations and in following up these matters, it will be putting in place a high level group whose task will be to formulate recommendations for improving the conditions of competitiveness. The purpose of this high level group will be to contribute to the process of implementing industrial and commercial policies in the textiles and clothing sector of the enlarged Union. The group will be involved in the Commission services’ regular monitoring of the sector’s economic development. It will provide reports and recommendations to the Commission and other players taking decisions on the proposed initiative in order to help the sector adjust to the various challenges facing it. Those reports will have to include recommendations on the key issues affecting competition in the sector.
The high level group will be made up of commissioners, ministers, heads of undertakings and directors general or presidents of federations involved in the textiles and clothing sector. It will look after innovation, research and development. I was pleased that you stressed the role of research and development in this respect. In fact, I recently had the opportunity to visit a textile undertaking which has made considerable efforts in research and innovation and has become competitive on the Chinese market as a result, although it was in a difficult position a few years ago. With a much more effective patent on dyeing and more mechanisms for managing productivity, it has become competitive in a very precise niche. The services also tell us that exports to China increase when there are these new industrial capacities. It is therefore clear that there is a future when we develop this research and innovation in a field where we have know-how.
Another topic is the question of intellectual property. Mr Berenguer Fuster is quite right when he says that this question must clearly form the basis of our thinking on the international level because these new processes can all be fragile if we do not protect them with solid patents. Research and development is certainly an important factor. We are also considering setting up a technology platform on the textiles sector, with the main players.
The other subjects are education and training, and regional policy. You stressed the problem of the Structural Funds in this connection, Mrs Bastos. In proposing the new mechanisms for the Structural Funds, my colleague Mr Barnier says very clearly that they will have to make an even greater contribution than in the past to the process of growth, the ‘Lisbon’ process. In sectors like textiles, the next Structural Funds will attach greater priority and importance to research, innovation and training, if that is what the regions want, of course.
International cooperation, labelling and other commerce-related subjects may all have an effect on the impact.
This high level group will start work in February 2004, that is virtually tomorrow, looking in particular at the objectives and the expected results, and will be followed by at least two plenary sessions before July 2004. The Commission will present its first report on the group’s work to the Council in July 2004. I think proper account is being taken of the problem. The European institutions and the Member States will be kept informed of the group’s work and of the implementation of its conclusions. The Commission is aware of the need to move quickly, since it wants to implement all of it before the end of 2004. By the end of February the Commission will draw up a list of the various trade proposals, measures and actions resulting from the communication, giving a timetable for their implementation. This will be shared with Parliament and the Member States."@en1
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