Employers' Group greets Competitiveness Council's inclusion of Innovation Stress test in the conclusions

The EESC Employers' Group hailed the decision by EU ministers to mention the EESC idea of introducing an "Innovation Stress Test " for new legislations. The Competitiveness Council of 24 May also asks the European Commission to explore its possible implementation through the current Better regulation tools.

The Council rightly stresses that a prosperous Europe needs a competitive industry with a strong manufacturing base, which is the engine for innovation, productivity, quality jobs, sustainability and growth.

The Employers' Group and its member organisations, including the Federation of Belgian enterprises, had called for the innovation stress test before the launch of the Belgian Presidency, which asked the Committee to deliver an opinion on its ideas for the test.

The Committee prepared and adopted the opinion on xx It stressed that a practical solution for ensuring an innovation-friendly landscape would be to create a checklist, against which future policy initiatives and revision of existing legislation should be evaluated, on a routine basis. This would help to verify that new policy initiatives do not unintentionally create obstacles or barriers to investment in innovation in the EU. The EESC believes that this "top 10" checklist should take a holistic view, including availability of talent, gender equality, consistency with present or future tax incentives for innovation, while also taking into account the best available  weight of scientific evidence.

"There may be good reasons why existing or draft legislation does not fulfil one or more of these “Top 10” points on the checklist, but in such cases, policymakers would need to adapt the proposal or justify why and how unintended negative impact on innovation would be avoided," said EESC rapporteur and member of the Employers Group Oliver Joris at the time of the vote.

According to Joris, the Stress Test as suggested by the EESC provides practical and easily implementable guidance for policymakers, complementing existing frameworks (including the "Innovation Principle" and the "better regulation tool-box"). "Of course, the tool will only be able to have a positive impact on European innovation if the European Commission systematically uses it and monitors its application.  In addition, that the tool could have an equally positive impact if used by policymakers in EU member states, and even at regional and local levels," he added.

The mention of the Innovation Stress Test in the Council's conclusions is a major achievement and we will use this reference and this request to push the current and next EC, said Group President  Stefano Mallia.

It is also thanks to a reference to the need for an  “Innovation principle” in official conclusions of the Council during the Dutch Presidency that the Commission had to work on it, despite the critics of some NGOs and consumers organisations.