During the Dutch presidency, the following Councils will meet to discuss this policy area:

- 01-07-2004 t/m 03-07-2004 - Maastricht - The Netherlands
- 24-09-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
- 25-11-2004 t/m 26-11-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
Click here for a full list of upcoming meetings

About Competitiveness
The Competitiveness Council deals with the internal market, tourism, industry and research. It meets four to ten times each year depending on the urgency of its business and is made up of the ministers from the relevant ministries in the Member States.

Research
In view of the growing technological gap with American and Japanese competitors,  considerable effort is required in the field of research and development to keep enterprises in the EU internationally competitive. The Maastricht Treaty (1992) set the objective of strengthening the scientific and technological basis of European industry.

In January 2000, the Commission unveiled its strategy to create a European area of research and innovation. Key elements are removing barriers caused by national borders, encouraging practical application of research results and fostering easier access to venture capital. Building on this strategy, the Lisbon Council (March 2000) set the following priorities: creating Community-wide protection of inventions by means of a Community patent, connecting networks of national research programmes, promoting the mobility of researchers within the EU and introducing measures to help start-ups.

The Commission proposed a budget of €17.5 billion for the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (2002-2006). This proposal has since been adopted. It identifies the following priority fields for scientific research during this period:
-biotechnology for health;
-technologies for the information society;
-nanotechnologies, knowledge-based materials and new production processes;
-aeronautics and space;
-food safety and health risks;
-sustainable development and global change;
-citizens and governance in the European knowledge-based society.
Other priorities include improving the links between national research programmes in the Member States and identifying the highest-quality science and innovation in Europe.
 
The internal market
The internal market is the greatest achievement of European integration. Article 14 of the EC Treaty describes the internal market as an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is guaranteed.

The internal market for goods and services came into being on schedule, on 31 December 1992. The internal market for the free movement of persons, however, was not completed by 1 January 1993. Further progress was made with the Treaty of Amsterdam, which included the Schengen Agreement. The United Kingdom and Ireland are not party to this agreement. After each enlargement of the Schengen acquis Denmark has six months to decide whether or not it will participate.

In November 1999 the Commission presented a strategy for the further development of the internal market until 2005. The core elements are improving living conditions for citizens, the efficiency of European capital and product markets and the business climate in the EU. The Helsinki Council approved the strategy in December 1999.

The free movement of goods may also be impeded by non-state parties, for example the truck drivers who blocked roads in France. There is political agreement within the Council on the Member States’ obligation to take effective action against impediments to the free movement of goods. In doing so, however, the Member States must respect fundamental rights, including the right to strike.

Industrial policy
The principles of European industrial policy were approved in 1990. It has four pillars, which the Commission still keeps in mind when moving from policy to concrete action today:
1) promoting intangible investment;
2) developing industrial cooperation;
3) ensuring fair competition;
4) modernising national governments’ industrial policies.

Promoting intangible investment entails fostering know-how, human potential and the quality of products and services, encouraging innovations that promote the acceptance of market developments and adapting organisations and structures. Of essential importance are the labour force’s skills and ability to adapt, an efficient venture capital market, a conducive climate for start-ups, innovation and an adequate legal and physical infrastructure.

The Commission supports cooperation between enterprises in the Member States, particularly in the SME sector. It noted as early as 1999 that European enterprises entered into relatively few advanced-technology alliances and that capital funds invested too little in state-of-the-art technological initiatives.

Ensuring fair competition has an impact not only on Member States and the Union as a whole. Ensuring fair competition at global level is also important. The instruments provided by the WTO and the OECD should therefore be put to optimal use. Fair competition on the world market, for example, is of vital importance to the European iron and steel industry. Cooperation with third countries (or groups of countries) must be developed further, for example in Central and Eastern Europe and with countries in the Mediterranean region.

Modernisation of the role of governments relates chiefly to the reform of old administrative and management practices that are no longer in keeping with current economic developments. Governments must work more effectively to make the industrial climate more attractive and to promote the development of, for instance, health care, education and communications. Enterprises should also respond more quickly and flexibly to new developments. Both the public and the private sectors are suffering from the consequences of a long period of protectionism in which adequate responses to signals from the market were not of principal concern.