Presidency note of questions for discussion at the Competitiveness Council - research and technology (link)

Brussels, 07 Nov 2003

Full text of Document 14178/1/03 Revision 01
Suite of documents 14178/1/03

[...]

II. QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED

Pending the discussion foreseen in the Competitiveness Council on November 2003 on the basis of the forthcoming Commission communication on the Integrated Competitiveness Strategy, the Council could proceed to an exchange of views on the next steps for enhancing competitiveness and growth, in particular with regard to the "initiative for growth". In order to structure the discussions, the Presidency suggests that the two questions set out below should be addressed by Ministers, who may, of course, raise any other points which they feel could contribute to the debate.

Q.1 The European Council pointed out the horizontal role of the Competitiveness Council in ensuring coherence between the various bodies and issues at stake (economic, environmental, social) and conducting a thorough assessment of the impact on competitiveness of the various Commission proposals.

The first notable instance of this approach will be the examination of the proposal on chemicals, which the European Council on 16 and 17 October assigned to the Competitiveness Council in co-ordination with the other Council configurations concerned. In the framework of the better legislation exercise, the Commission has recently published the "preliminary impact assessment of the initiatives included in its legislative and Work Programme 2004". This document could help identify proposals which are likely to have a significant impact on competitiveness.

On the basis of the preliminary impact assessments made by the Commission which

[...]

Council Register