EU governments must minimise regulation of business to encourage investment and job creation, industry leaders have told ministers and senior EU commissioners.
The clear message from senior business people addressing EU industry ministers was "to legislate for the floor, not the ceiling", according to the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, who hosted the informal meeting of EU ministers in Dromoland Castle, Co Clare, yesterday.
Seeking to solve all problems through regulation and legislation "will destroy investment and send jobs elsewhere".
Ms Carly Fiorina, chairman and chief executive of Hewlett Packard, told the audience that Europe must not become another California.
Well-meaning legislation over a period of 10 years had transformed California from one of the most successful states in the US to becoming 49th of 50 US states in terms of economic performance, Ms Harney said ministers had been told.
Better regulation to achieve a genuine single market in goods, services, people and capital in Europe was probably the single most important tool available to policymakers to support faster EU productivity growth, according to a summary issued after the meeting by the Irish presidency.
The meeting, which was attended by ministers from 31 countries, three EU commissioners, and business leaders from the US and the EU, had a wide-ranging discussion on competitiveness and research in the EU.
As well as excessive regulation, the business leaders identified continued barriers to trade that suppress competition and the lack of an attractive environment for research as key issues.
Increasing competition facing industry, with considerable investment being attracted to countries such as China and India, was a key focus.
The EU Commission argues that this does not represent "de-industrialisation" of the EU. Enterprise Commissioner Mr Erkki Liikanen said output from most sectors was still rising but there were reasons for concern in Europe's lagging productivity performance
Ms Fiorina told the audience that countries needed to be as flexible and responsive as modern countries.
Europe has the capacity to be as economically strong "or stronger" than the US, the Tánaiste told a press conference yesterday evening, but needed to become much better at implementing policy change.
"The agenda is clear," she added. "Where we fall down is the capacity to make decisions," an area highlighted by the failure to agree on a community patent or procedures to recognise qualifications across EU borders.
Senior industry figures, speaking at the meeting, outlined the difficulties of doing business in Europe. Europe was a "hostile and turbulent environment" for business, said Mr Jean Stephenne, the president and general manager of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. There was little reward for innovation, he said, little incentive for risk-taking and an over-complex regulatory and legal process.
Mr Henri Thome of the French Bouygues Group, which employs 130,000 staff in 90 countries in the building sector, called for a strong competition regulatory framework, which he said was not present in all EU countries.
In particular, competing with previously state-owned monopolies could be difficult, he argued.
Europe would also need to embrace partnerships between the public and private sectors if it was to deliver the required improvements in infrastructure over a relatively short time period, he said.
