The Council also discussed the Single Market Strategy which was presented by the European Commission on 28 October 2015 to deliver a deeper and fairer Single Market that will benefit both consumers and businesses. There was wide support for the Strategy. Hungary also welcomed the Single Market Strategy and agreed, inter alia, that unjustified geo-blocking and discriminative behaviour against consumers must be addressed. In this regard, Hungary underlined the importance it attaches to the broadcasting rights and the ability of the European consumers to watch the sport events in their mother tongue from outside the territory of the broadcaster in question.
During the working lunch delegations had a discussion on the Better Regulation package with Vice-President Timmermans. Participants agreed that regulation has to be made more transparent, simple and efficient. While all members supported the work on the REFIT program, a number of delegations would also like to see quantified targets within the program.
Member States’ opinions were less favourable regarding the Commission’s proposal for the establishment of National Competitiveness Boards (within the euro area), as they questioned the necessity and added value of another new institution. The Commission also informed Members on the state of play of the implementing measures to introduce real driving emissions (RDE) tests for cars. The Commission (supported by a number of delegation, including Hungary) argued that the new measures strike a good balance between environmental aspects and technical feasibility in the short run.
The second day of the Competitiveness Council dealt with research items. The Council adopted conclusions on research integrity, on advancing gender equality in the European Research Area (ERA) and on the review of the ERA advisory structure.
As main agenda point the ministers exchanged views on the European Investment Plan, more specifically on how to make the best possible use of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) to stimulate research and innovation.
Vice-President Jyrki Katainen emphasized that the aim of EFSI is to stimulate and support job creation, long-term growth, and competitiveness. The EFSI therefore provides support to projects in a broad range of areas, including research and innovation, transport, energy, education, health and risk finance for SMEs. The role of the Fund is to mobilize extra private finance and attract long term investors for risky but economically and technically viable projects. He also highlighted the need for creating an investment friendly environment and strengthening the venture capital industry in the EU.
The delegations agreed that the EU must prioritize investment in research and innovation as it is to safeguard its sources of future growth. It is therefore of utmost importance that EFSI supports further development of the European Research Area (ERA) by clearly targeting undertakings with the highest potential impact. Ministers emphasized the need for transparency in the implementation of the Fund and better communication in particular about the participation of universities and research institutions. They underlined that the collection of good practices would help the preparation of projects. Regarding the use of financial instruments several delegations highlighted that grants are essential in certain areas of RDI support, especially in the case of basic research. Therefore they recommended the complementary use of the different funding mechanism.
