05 / 03 / 2019
Outcome of the COMPET Meeting of 18-19 February 2019
On 18-19 February 2019, the Competitiveness Council discussed the future of internal market, industry and research. The Ministers exchanged views on several topics, including:- Fostering the development and use of Artificial Intelligence in Europe: in its conclusions on the European Coordinated Plan on the development and use of Artificial Intelligence, the Council highlighted the vital significance of fostering the development and use of artificial intelligence in Europe by increasing investment, reinforcing excellence in artificial intelligence technologies and applications, and strengthening research and innovation collaboration between industry and academia in this field.
- Adopting a holistic and forward-looking approach, aiming at bringing together the single market, industrial and digitisation policies.They also highlighted the increasingly important role played by market services in EU value chains and confirmed their wish to achieve a much higher degree of integration of the services market within the EU. The Spring European Council will hold a policy debate on the future of the single market.
- The examination of the Specific Programme implementing Horizon Europe, based on a presidency paper. More specifically, they discussed about missions and partnerships and they expressed their strong support for the European Innovation Council (EIC), stressing the need to put in place appropriate coordination mechanisms that would ensure that funding provided under that Council does not overlap with other EU funding schemes.
- Trilogue discussion on Horizon Europe, underlining that negotiations for a first reading deal between the two co-legislators are ongoing.
