Minister for European Affairs Dick Roche - Irish Presidency Plans to make EU more competitive
Minister Dick Roche today told a UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe) event to mark European Competitiveness Day in Brussels that the Irish Government is committed to policies “to create the conditions conducive to the development of a dynamic economic environment. Injecting a sense a of dynamism into the Lisbon Agenda will be a key objective of the Irish Presidency.”
Roche said “effective governmental action will play a vital role in promoting competitiveness in Europe by eliminating barriers to trade, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and reducing the regulatory burden on business.”
“Conscious of the importance of promoting growth, Ireland's approach as EU Presidency next year will be strongly oriented towards promoting a culture of competitiveness and business expansion in Europe.”
“We view the services sector as an important motor for growth and employment creation in Europe, we will focus, in particular on pushing forward with the Internal Market in this area. In this regard, we intend to advance significantly a new Directive on the Internal Market for Services aimed at enabling the services sector to operate across national borders.”
“We will place emphasis on promoting innovation, viewing investment in research and development as an important means of adding value to our economic output and enhancing our competitiveness in the global economy. We also see an opportunity to support businesses to develop and make greater use of environmental technologies in the interests both of enhancing competitiveness and of fostering sustainable growth.”
“We believe that our policy responses with regard to competitiveness need to be informed by regular dialogue with the business community, we intend to organise opportunities for contact between Ministers and business people during our Presidency.”
Roche added, “We need, of course, to ensure that we develop good quality regulation that does not impact adversely on the EU's competitiveness. The Annual Global Competitiveness Report 2003/04 highlights the importance of effective governmental action in terms of good quality regulation, citing how the top five most competitive countries in the world considered ‘too much red tape' or ‘inefficient bureaucracy' to be a major factor constraining businesses. It can be no accident that these highly competitive countries have a high level of awareness and a sharper focus on the importance of good quality regulation. This is an important message on which we need to focus at EU level.
Roche concluded, “Ireland's task as Presidency of the Council of Ministers next year will be to advance the process of forging a Europe that maximises the potential of its peoples and harnesses the continent's dynamic energies to compete within a global context.”
