Estonian PM calls openness a prerequisite for EU's competitiveness
14.03.2008
BRUSSELS, Mar 14, BNS - Speaking at the European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday, the prime minister of Estonia named openness a precondition for the competitiveness of the EU and said that application of restrictions in the globalizing world would hold back the union's economic development.
The EU must go on carrying out the reforms agreed in the Lisbon Strategy, not search for new goals and areas to deal with, Prime Mister Andrus Ansip said according to a government press release.
The premier named three areas as being crucial for boosting competitiveness, namely making use of all the opportunities offered by the internal market, putting emphasis on research and development, and improving the quality of education.
Ansip was critical of the union's inability to come to an agreement on the European patent. He said that according to a recent survey application for an European patent and its enforcement was in a number of EU member states more than ten times more expensive than in the United States or Japan.
Ansip also described as causing concern the union's failure to significantly increase spending on research and development.
Ansip described education, and specifically the quality of higher education, as the third major challenge. He said that without a higher education that is top of the class worldwide Europe is not able to increase its competitiveness or attract talent from outside.
He said that it the coming years the EU must pay significantly more attention to reform of the higher education, particularly the principles of financing of universities and cooperation with the private sector.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8835, sise@bns.ee
 
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