Regulatory reform to reduce restrictions on business would be one of her main priorities during the EU presidency, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said yesterday, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent
Outlining the presidency programme of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, of which she is Minister, Ms Harney said regulatory reform was required "above all".
"We need fewer, not more, prescriptive proposals from Europe," she said.
Since a 10-year economic competitiveness strategy had been agreed at the Lisbon EU summit of 2000, the growth gap between the Union and the US had widened. This was "not because the US is smarter intellectually, but because they're better at getting things done". Ms Harney said a key goal of the Irish presidency would be to reinvigorate this so-called Lisbon agenda, and prioritise certain key policy decisions that needed to be taken.
It was her intention that the input from the Competitiveness Council to the EU spring summit would be devoted to economic reform and the Lisbon agenda.
The council, which Ms Harney will chair during the Irish presidency, was set up in 2002 to strengthen competitiveness in the EU. She said it would concentrate on a limited set of actions over the next six months, setting targets and deadlines for member-states and the EU Commission.
"In particular, we intend to make tangible progress on the proposed creation of the European Research Area. The conclusions of an international conference on this issue, to be held in Dublin in February, will be on the agenda of the formal Competitiveness Council meeting in Brussels on March 11th.
"The Union can assist in this by underpinning the principle of free movement of researchers and the science community, with provisions that enable mobility between member-states and from third countries."
Ms Harney also said was committed to reaching the Lisbon target of increasing investment in research to 3 per cent of GDP. "I want to see an environment develop throughout Europe which is genuinely conducive to research and innovation. If we are to encourage innovation, we must give the innovators the capacity to protect their ideas and inventions."