As conclusões do Conselho de Ministros para a competitividade, de ontem e hoje, anunciam mudanças significativas no discurso europeu sobre a necessidade de permitir às empresas e indústrias europeias que sejam mais competitivas, de facto. A crise pode bem ter convencido os governos europeus da importância de legislar de acordo com as necessidades da economia e não do fundamentalismo verde.
Vem aí uma tendência diferente no ambiente legislativo europeu. É provável que o o tema não seja discutido nas eleições europeias, mas no dia seguinte convém estar atento. O que se decide hoje vai ter uma enorme influência na nossa indústria.

Seguem-se alguns dos parágrafos mais relevantes das conclusões:

Having said the above, ENCOURAGES the Commission, the European Parliament and Member States to speed up work aimed at simplifying legislation and reducing administrative burdens for industry and businesses. Thorough quantified and integrated impact assessments and cost- effectiveness analyses, including non-regulation options, should be carried out for all new legislative and important non-legislative proposals having significant impacts on businesses, and their substantial amendments, where possible. Impact assessments should reflect the current economic situation and, where relevant, take into account specific situations existing in Member States in order to avoid undermining the global competitiveness of industry. Bearing in mind the "Think Small First" principle, special attention should be given to the impact of legislation on SMEs. Businesses should be given adequate time to adapt to new requirements before new legislation is introduced;

POINTS OUT that, with a view to preserving and enhancing the competitiveness of European industry and improving the conditions for investment in Europe, compliance with new requirements should not cause excessive costs to businesses in all policy areas. Otherwise, such costs could lead to "production leakage"17, notably in the present economic crisis;

INVITES the Commission to monitor the implementation of the REACH Regulation and its impacts on businesses, especially SMEs, taking into account the current economic situation, and to continue to undertake the necessary preparatory work that will facilitate the future review of the extent to which the objectives of REACH in enhancing competitiveness and innovation and ensuring high levels of protection of human health and the environment have been achieved;

ACKNOWLEDGES the fact that innovation and investment in R&D are crucial to the long- term competitiveness of the sector and have a knock-on effect on the competitiveness and energy efficiency in a large number of other sectors. This should be reflected in the ongoing debate on the future of industrial policy and in the evaluation of the broad-based innovation strategy, including the lead market initiative;

ENCOURAGES all public bodies to support and facilitate innovation in this key sector by
encouraging public procurement to consider energy- and resource-efficient solutions and
products and services, and to raise consumer awareness;

ACKNOWLEDGES the serious economic situation in the automotive sector, including the light- and heavy-duty vehicles. Following the Communication from the Commission entitled "Responding to the crisis in the European automotive industry"28 and the Council conclusions on automotive industry adopted by the Competitiveness Council in March 2009, the Council CONSIDERS that, given the current economic situation in the sector, creating additional burdens for the industry needs to be avoided if possible. New legislative measures need to be taken with utmost caution and should be preceded by thorough impact assessments respecting the current conditions. The Council LOOKS FORWARD to the presentation, by the end of 2009, of a roadmap of planned legislative and non-legislative initiatives that would have a significant impact on the industry;
 

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