European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry

The Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship is a Vice-President of the European Commission. The current commissioner is Jyrki Katainen.

The post was enlarged from the Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society portfolio in the Prodi Commission to include Industry.

At the start of the Barroso Commission Germany, backed by Britain and France suggested an economic "super-commissioner" to fight for competitiveness. Although rejected, this idea though has been taken on by Verheugen, as the Enterprise and Industry portfolio was enlarged and was made a Vice-President.

As Commissioner, he indicates his aim to increase the competitiveness of Europe, there is a separate Commissioner for Competition dealing with competition between companies within Europe. However, with the numerous economic portfolios, there is a degree of overlap which has been a matter of concern for him along with the purported difficulty of firing director-generals.

Verheugen also chairs the Competitiveness Council Commissionners Group and is the vice chair of the Group of Commissioners on the Lisbon Strategy. He is expected to be the European chair of the new Transatlantic Economic Council.

He has stated a desire to cut red tape, especially to make it more favourable to SMEs. He also highlights research and innovation as "twin keys to future competitiveness". He outlines his priorities as; better regulation, a modern industrial policy, SMEs and innovation. To promote competitiveness, he laid down three policies derived from the treaties; "Competitiveness and improvement of the business environment (Art. 157). Completing and managing the Internal Market for products (Art. 28 and 95) and Innovation and research framework programmes (Title XVIII)."

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