Activites

• 1996/07/06 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 1996/413
  • OJ L 167 06.07.1996, p. 0055
• #1940
• 1996/06/25 Council Meeting
• 1996/06/25 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1996/06/25 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1996/02/22 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1996)0031 summary

    The Commission's amended proposal for a Council decision takes account of most of the amendments adopted by Parliament. The effect of the amendments to the draft decision is to clarify the scope and aims of the decision, in particular as regards the interested parties, the level of investment in intangibles, the contribution by the internal market and that of the policy on economic and social cohesion.�

• #1880
• 1995/11/07 Council Meeting
• 1995/10/27 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0526/1995 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr Wilfried KUCKELKORN (PSE, D) on a policy for industrial competitiveness, Parliament approved the Commission's proposal with the following amendments: - attention was focused on the importance of a social dimension which, in Parliament's view, was inseparable from industrial competitiveness. With this in mind, Parliament drew special attention to the importance of social dialogue between the two sides of industry; - attention was also drawn to the fact that the industrial competitiveness of companies was hampered by the cost and quality of public services; - the importance of promoting intangible investments was emphasized. In this respect, the promotion of human resources and the opportunities offered by the information society were put to the fore, as was the importance of professional training as added value for industrial competitiveness; - to the main programme objectives, Parliament added that State actions should be put on a more modern footing so that public authorities might continue to play a role in introducing new regulations; - the Commission was criticized for the lack of priorities and absence of a financial assessment in its proposal and was called on to identify the priority actions together with the financial impact and the results which could really be anticipated from the proposed measures (particularly regarding employment and respect for the environment); - everything should be done to minimize the risk of social dumping in the EU; - special attention was paid to employment in general, and to that of women in particular, as well as to the provision of support for SMEs (particularly by improving their fiscal environment, encouraging the enterprise culture, analyzing cooperation as a success factor, introducing targeted marketing for SMEs and providing more information to this sector); - all forms of dialogue were encouraged, such as workers' participation in the running of companies, as an important element for sustainable economic growth, as well as their contribution to the identification of training requirements; - measures were also put forward for the harmonisation of social issues which were still unresolved at Council level, while further actions were proposed for promoting the ratification of ILO conventions; - annual reports are to be submitted to Parliament and to the Council in order to assess the impact of the programme (particularly as far as jobs are concerned). �

• 1995/10/26 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1995/10/17 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0248/1995
• 1995/09/22 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1995/03/30 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0087 summary

    The draft decision seeks to draw up an action programme with a view to improving the competitiveness of European industry, which will provide the basis for economic growth and employment creation and will contribute to economic and social cohesion. The four objectives of the programme were as follows: 1) To promote intangible investments: vocational training; more intensive research; promotion of quality; better integration of vocational training actions in other policies; development of clean technologies and financial incentives; new ways of organizing work and improving the fiscal environment of SMEs; improving the dialogue between the two sides of industry; rational use of statistics. 2) To develop industrial cooperation. - at horizontal level: removal of legal and fiscal obstacles; development of new tools; support for the development of transnational initiatives focused on the key markets by using the structural funds; enlisting the support of the directors-general group to facilitate commercial operations and the search for information and suitable business partners; joint approach to European investment abroad; greater technological cooperation; - central and eastern European countries and the CIS: examination of solutions based on the concept of partial investment guarantees; support for private-sector investment; support for standardization and certification; expertise in international financial engineering and compensation schemes; support for energy potential; - Latin America and the Mediterranean countries: participation in the Fourth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development and in the development of the information society; creation of business networks; - Asia: cooperation programmes; projects for scientific and technological cooperation; actions to promote training and the dissemination of techniques; 3) To ensure fair competition. - external markets: solving the outstanding problems left by the GATT negotiations; combatting fraud; the application of international rules on competition; setting-up an Industrial Assessment Mechanism; improving the structure of the Common Customs Tariff; creation of a database on the obstacles to the smooth operation of the markets; improvement of trade-policy instruments; application of trade-policy and trade-protection instruments to the services sector; - the single market: reduction in public aid; adjustment of the aid control mechanism; re-examination of the acceptance criteria for aid; strengthening of the single market (gas, electricity and telecommunications); 4) To modernize public intervention measures: further deregulation; redefinition of public-service objectives; development of partnerships between big business and SMEs; simplification of legislation and administrative procedures; more intensive use of data communications networks to link-up the public services; support for industrial cooperation projects of interest to the Community; reducing the cost of applying the regulations. �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0087
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0248/1995
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0526/1995
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1996)0031
• : Decision 1996/413
• : OJ L 167 06.07.1996, p. 0055

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)