EUROPEAN DIARY:If EU leaders embrace knowledge and innovation as a key policy area, the Irish commissioner's input will be pivotal, writes ARTHUR BEESLEY
MÁIRE Geoghegan- Quinn’s name is proving something of a tongue-twister to many in the bureaucratic machine in Brussels. No matter how many times you tell them, they can’t quite get it. They’re already using her initials.
MGQ took command of the research, science and innovation portfolio in the European Commission last week. After 10 years in the quietude of the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg, she seems to be relishing her return to the front line.
Her dismissal of Déirdre de Búrca’s bid for a seat on her cabinet caused a tremor back home, but she is playing on a different field here with key challenges looming in the coming weeks.
Although the financial emergency in Greece is top priority for the European authorities at present, the commission’s policy engine is consumed with the development of a new medium-term economic plan for the union. EU leaders want to review first drafts of the Europe 2020 plan next month.
Geoghegan-Quinn’s input will be important, as European Council president Herman Van Rompuy and commission president José Manuel Barroso say the promotion of commercial innovation will be core to the endeavour.
Although it is not certain, it seems likely that EU leaders will embrace “growth based on knowledge and innovation” as one of five key policy areas for the next 10 years. If that happens, Geoghegan-Quinn will take a prime role in the revitalisation of Europe’s ailing economy.
For example, targets for research and development (RD) expenditure would be set for each member state as encouragement to go down that road.
Geoghegan-Quinn’s hand would be strengthened immeasurably in looming negotiations on the commission’s 2014 to 2021 budget. These are scheduled to start in the middle of next year. Given the scarcity of funds, a battle royal at the commission table is inevitable.
The core objective in the innovation push is to foster productivity in the EU, boosting employment and creating a counterforce to Europe’s de-industrialisation.
Given that China and other developing countries have taken advantage of their low business costs to obliterate large swathes of the EU’s manufacturing sector, the policy is to promote sophisticated modes of production in Europe that cannot be replicated easily on the cheap elsewhere.
Another objective is, within the green agenda, to create new technology to replace systems that rely heavily on carbon fuels.
Never a pushover in the political fray, the lady herself makes no secret of her ambition.
“I have a reputation for getting things done, for never staying within my own area. I’m not going to leave that reputation outside the Berlaymont,” she said on her first day in office.
Arguing that a doctor should never be made health minister and that a teacher should not become education minister, Geoghegan-Quinn sees her status as an absolute newcomer to the portfolio more as an advantage than a handicap. “I don’t for one minute accept that you have to be a scientist to be an ambassador for science,” she said.
She steps forward in that ambassadorial role for the first time today in a meeting with top executives from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Intel and Nokia. Geoghegan-Quinn is likely to urge them to do more to boost their research activities in Europe.
In addition, she wants to promote research in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the biggest employers in Europe but also-rans in the innovation race. It may well be that a certain amount of EU research funding may be ringfenced for SMEs.
Geoghegan-Quinn also wants to bring “research to retail” within the EU, making the case that European technologists provided much of the brain power for products such as Apple’s iPod, only for the manufacturing to be carried out elsewhere.
Furthermore, she wants to direct EU structural funds to boost research infrastructure in countries with no great tradition in that area.
Above all, she wants the EU to meet the target set many years ago to bring annual spending on research and development above 3 per cent of European gross domestic product. While public expenditure on this front is significant – the EU research budget last year was €5.5 billion – that of private business is far behind. Barroso himself highlighted as much in his presentation to EU leaders at their special economic summit last week.
“R&D spending is below 2 per cent, compared to 2.6 per cent in the US and 3.4 per cent in Japan; our smaller share of high-tech firms explains half of the gap with the US,” he said.
He went on to say that Google spends more on R&D in information and communication technology than the EU spends across all disciplines in its current research programme.
MGQ’s challenge, therefore, is a great one and her new boss has made it clear that he wants to see results. Busy days ahead.