Cséfalvay: Single market receives new impetus

Financial stability in itself will not create jobs, production or growth. In parallel with putting public finances in order, Europe must improve its competitiveness, explained Zoltán Cséfalvay at the hearing of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. The Minister of State talked about a lost decade, and noted that Member State governments became complacent and have delayed the necessary reforms when the crisis broke out in 2008.

If we want the upsurge to be followed by sustainable and job creating growth, decision makers in Europe must have four requirements in mind, opined Mr Cséfalvay: more single market, less red tape, access to financing, unleash the innovation potential.

The single market is the greatest competitive advantage of Europe

Mr Cséfalvay highlighted the progress accomplished in the field of the single market during the term of the Hungarian Presidency. He pointed out that not only the single market, but also the single market policy is fragmented, given the high number of institutions, organisations and agencies who are responsible for it, both at a national and at Union level, and make decisions that will affect it. He also called it a serious challenge to win the support of the general public for the full realisation of the single market.

“The single market is the greatest competitive advantage of Europe, no market of such high level  integration exists in China, India or Brazil,” said Zoltán Cséfalvay, who also said that it is one of the consequences of the crisis that the single market is once again in focus on the EU’s political agenda. According to the Minister of State, it is a great accomplishment of the Hungarian Presidency that this single market has been given a new impetus, and work has begun on the implementation of the Single Market Act, a set of actions developed by the European Commission. On 30 May the Council adopted conclusions, identifying 12 actions that could accelerate growth and strengthen the trust of citizens.

The consumer protection directive can highly contribute to reducing the fragmentation of the single market; Mr Cséfalvay pointed out, and welcomed the political agreement concluded between the Council and the European Parliament (EP) on 6 June, which was approved by the Parliament Committee right after the hearing.

Innovation and financing

Mr Cséfalvay also covered the close relationship between the single market and innovation, stressing that the bigger the single market, the more cost efficient the investments in innovation will be. In terms of encouraging innovation, he called the start of enhanced cooperation for the establishment of the unitary patent system, is one of the outstanding achievements of the Hungarian Presidency.

According to Mr Cséfalvay, it was “an historic moment” when, after 50 years of debates, the Council finally gave the green light to a group of Member States to develop the unitary patent system. He recalled that the number of participating Member States have grown from 12 to 25, between December 2010 and March 2011. A faster, simpler and cheaper registration of patents, has increased the legal certainty and has facilitated the involvement of private capital, and contributed significantly to increasing the competitiveness of Europe, Mr Cséfalvay stated.

Cutting of red tape

In response to questions by MEPs, Mr Cséfalvay called the cutting of red tape for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), one of the most substantial endeavours of the Hungarian Presidency and also one of the most important action points of the upcoming period. In all the accomplishments of the Hungarian Presidency, the Minister of State highlighted the achieved agreement that was reached in the Council on 30 May, on the draft directive aimed for simplifying the accounting requirements for micro-entities. He pointed out that one of the items on the agenda of the informal meeting of competitiveness ministers was the mid-term review of the Small Business Act, which was adopted in 2008; with a view to finding ways to efficiently implement the basic principles that were developed earlier for smart regulation. He acknowledged that implementation of all this in the everyday practice of governments is far from being easy.

Mr Cséfalvay stressed that in national and Community level legislation, special attention must be paid to the impact of laws on SMEs, and for this purpose the Commission and Member States have appointed their “SME ambassadors.” According to the Minister of State, the biggest problem of SMEs is not being small, but not having a political voice and not receiving appropriate political support. “Every government loves SMEs, the question is how to love them,” Mr Cséfalvay formulated the problem.

On behalf of the Hungarian Presidency, the Minister of State acknowledged the EP Committee several times for the fruitful cooperation. As he put it, for the Presidency the biggest challenge was to find out how they can “work together”, with the Commission and the Parliament. He was glad to report that they have managed not only to work together, but to “work together on time” with other institutions.

Malcolm Harbour from the UK, President of the EP Committee, and several of his fellow representatives, especially acknowledged the Hungarian Presidency and personally Zoltán Cséfalvay, for reviving and re-energising the Competitiveness Council.

Europe became a little bit stronger

On 16 June, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament also held a hearing for Zoltán Cséfalvay. The Minister of State reiterated his opinion that in line with the motto of the Hungarian Presidency, Europe has become a little bit stronger over the last six months.

Mr Cséfalvay pointed out the accomplishments in the Single Market Act, the unitary patent system and in research and innovation. The only chance for Europe to stay competitive with other leading economies of the world, is to strengthen knowledge-based society and innovation, the Minister of State underlined. “We know that innovation is essential, we can overtake the rest of the world by innovation and education.”

Dialogue on research programmes

“In the field of innovation, research and development we have tried to enhance the shared strategic framework”, Mr Cséfalvay said. A Presidency report has been created concerning the 7th Research Framework Program, which contained a proposal for a more efficient and coherent use of funds available for grants. The Presidency has made efforts to conduct a dialogue on future research and regional development programs in the widest possible scope, and three Commissioners, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes and Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn also participated in the relevant meetings.

Finally, Mr Cséfalvay also reported that the Council have accepted the conclusions on space research for the first time in EU history,during the Hungarian Presidency.

Mr Cséfalvay expressed his thanks to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and highlighted the importance of cooperation among the three institutions of the Union - the Council the Parliament and the Commission - and Member States. “I have learnt many things during this Presidency. One is that there are always three players in the game: the Council, the Parliament and the Commission. And certainly in the Council, there are more players, there are 27. But it is very important to work on how we can harmonise our efforts,” remarked the Hungarian Minister of State.