French EU presidency: informal competitiveness meeting (July 17-18, 2008)
Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Minister of State for European Affairs, Valérie Pécresse, Minister for Higher Education and Research, and Hervé Novelli, Minister of State with responsibility for Business, Trades, Small Industry, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Tourism and Services, will co-chair the informal competitiveness meeting being held at Versailles and Jouy-en-Josas on July 17-18.
On July 18, the ministers in charge of the internal market and industry of the 31 Member States of the EU and the European Free Trade Association will meet; among those in attendance will be Gunter Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition, and Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services.
During this session, the ministers will notably examine the European Commission’s Small Business Act for Europe initiative, which aims to improve conditions for investing in SMEs, cut red tape, facilitate access to public procurement, and promote the creation of private enterprise throughout Europe.
The ministers will also discuss the promotion of European interests and norms internationally. In talks on the energy-climate package, they will notably focus on ways to reconcile high-level environmental standards with the competitiveness of European businesses. They will also discuss efforts to more effectively combat the trade in counterfeit goods.
More information on the French Presidency of the Council of the EU website
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