Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-08-Speech-2-683-000"
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"en.20110308.30.2-683-000"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Lange, for the work he has done. I know it is not easy in a Chamber organised like this one, with so many parliamentary groups, to succeed in arriving at a synthesis that will allow the debate on industrial policy to be wound up positively. I would therefore like to thank you for the work you have done because, if we truly want to put action to promote the real economy at the heart of our political action in favour of the social and market economy, we – the Commission, Parliament and the Council – must work together.
As regards the Member States, I believe the reaction has been positive. As I was saying, on 10 December 2010 with the Hungarian Presidency, we launched the first cooperation exercises on access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be followed by other, similar exercises, in close cooperation with the Member States. We will continue to give you the necessary details for ongoing collaboration between Parliament and the Commission.
Before I finish, Madam President, please allow me to say a word about the importance of supporting entrepreneurship among women. It is no coincidence that today is 8 March, and I have always said that we need more women entrepreneurs, but once they have decided to commit themselves, we must also be in a position at least to give them good advice.
That is what we have decided to do by including an
action during the revision of the Small Business Act. The Network of Female Entrepreneurship Ambassadors that we have already launched will continue to exist, but we want to go beyond awareness raising. We want women entrepreneurs to be able to receive good advice from experts, and to this end, we are about to launch a consultation exercise in the very short term to support certain initiatives aimed at providing mentors for new female entrepreneurs who would like one.
These people can give them concrete advice on starting up and then managing a business. The aim is to roll out this initiative in at least 10 Member States and then expand it to the rest of the 27.
I agree with your appeal for greater cohesion by the Member States, but there is an encouraging sign from the Council, which has, in fact, supported the Commission’s position. In addition, in the countries where it has been possible to present the industrial policy document, there has been some willingness – albeit to varying degrees in the different countries – to take part in joint action under the governance of the industrial policy. As the Union does not want to impose decisions on the individual Member States, this is an attempt to coordinate their policies.
This appears to me to be a move in the direction of your request, but it also confirms that Europe needs its own industry in order to address the immediate challenges of finding a way out of the crisis. We cannot think of overcoming our current difficulties – a situation that is being made worse by the ongoing crisis in the Mediterranean region – without solid action to promote our industrial and business policies, because they are the only ones that can enable us to develop and create new jobs.
The report you have prepared, Mr Lange, rightly emphasises the economic, environmental and social challenges we face: in short, the sustainability of our industrial policy. It places sustainability on the same level as competitiveness, because these two dimensions are closely connected. Indeed, I am convinced that in today’s world, these two aspects cannot exist without each other.
To achieve this, we must also equip ourselves with modern, competitive industry that makes a clean break with the old method of industrial policy making. What does having modern industry mean? It means having industry that is efficient in resource use, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, which implies an economy aiming at becoming a green economy, via the route of a greener economy. This industry must also be accountable, tackling difficulties on the basis of constant and fruitful dialogue with the social partners.
I believe a strong signal needs to be sent out that the 2010 industrial model cannot be one based on State aid and that, to be competitive in the era of global challenges, European industry cannot afford not to focus on innovation and research. That is why, before issuing the industrial policy document, the Commission presented its document on innovation policy, which I think is absolutely fundamental to the development of a genuine industrial policy and also helps identify paths to follow in the sector of raw materials research and innovation.
It is not a coincidence that one of the innovation partnerships mentioned by the Commission is precisely about raw materials, researching ways to recycle and replace raw materials. It is therefore clear – not least because we will talk later about rare earths in the following debate – that innovation, raw materials and industrial policy are all part of a single strategy, and, to my mind, the revision of the Small Business Act also forms part of the same strategy. By putting this series of political and legislative acts into practice, therefore, the Commission is demonstrating that there is a will to implement political action in favour of industry and business.
With regard to governance and industrial policy, I think the process is well under way, as I was saying before, both within the Commission and in the Member States. Within the Commission, as you know, President Barroso called on me at the beginning of the mandate to chair the group of Commissioners on industrial policy.
I have called two group meetings so far, one before the communication was adopted to discuss political priorities, and the second to discuss the practical implementation of the communication, with particular reference to the competitiveness test and the standardisation strategy. I consider the group of Commissioners to be a special tool designed to provide political guidance and ensure that initiatives are consistent in terms of industrial policy."@en1
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