16 Annual report for 2003 on competitiveness
| (25137)
15217/03
SEC(03) 1299
| Commission Staff Working Paper — European Competitiveness Report 2003
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 1 March 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 42-v (2003-04), para 13 (14 January 2004)
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| To be discussed in Council | No discussion envisaged
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared (decision reported on 14 January 2004)
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Background
16.1 The Lisbon European Council of March 2000 set the EU the
goal for the next decade of becoming the most competitive and
dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. This annual
Commission staff working paper aims to provide an analytical contribution
to the debate on how to attain this goal by strengthening the
competitiveness of European industry.
16.2 We cleared the document on 14 January 2004,
but asked the Minister whether such a lengthy report served the
intended purpose and justified the cost in terms of Commission
staff time and effort, including translation.
The Minister's letter
16.3 The Minister of State for Industry and the Regions
at the Department of Trade and Industry and Deputy Minister for
Women and Equality (Jacqui Smith) says in her letter of 1 March
2004:
"It is my view that, despite its original 1994
auspices, this annual report now provides an important factual
and analytical basis on which to benchmark progress towards the
Council's year 2000 Lisbon goal. By monitoring the relative competitiveness
of the EU, the report acts to provide a focus on competitiveness
such that the need for corrective policies is highlighted along
with analysis that can inform the policy debate. It is necessary
for the Commission to produce a robust EU-wide view of competitiveness,
which underpins much of DG Enterprise's work, including the Integrated
Competitiveness Strategy.
"This said, I have sympathy with the Committee's
view that the key elements of this annual report could be delivered
in a much shorter, less resource intensive document, e.g. by removing
the last three chapters, thus slimming the report to the contents
of its first chapter — 'Growth, Productivity and Employment'.
Whilst there is merit in the Commission's analysis provided in
the remaining three chapters of last year's report, the issues
addressed will not be uniformly policy relevant across all member
states. Given this, I propose to incorporate the Committee's
views regarding this DG Enterprise annual report within the next
Commission Annual Budget Exercise."
Conclusion
16.4 We thank the Minister for responding promptly
to our questions and are pleased to note that she intends to present
our views to the Commission. The document in question is only
one of a number of what we consider to be over-weight papers deposited
recently.
16.5 The document was cleared on 14 January.
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