The European Commission has launched a high level group on the competitiveness of the European chemicals industry, in a bid to guarantee the future health of a sector representing 5% of Europe's GDP.

Following the recent adoption of new EU health and safety legislation for the sector, known as REACH, high level stakeholders from the chemicals industry met in Brussels for the first in a series of meetings aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the sector.

According to the chair of the group, European Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen, 'The EU chemicals industry is a world-leader today and makes an enormous contribution to growth and jobs in Europe. However, there are clear signs that it is facing unprecedented challenges both from the effects of global change and the expectations of our citizens.

'With this initiative we aim to ensure the right framework conditions for the chemicals industry to continue operating and investing in the EU on a sustainable basis,' said Mr Verheugen.

The new initiative will have three goals. The first is to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector by examining how to continue to attract investment to Europe so as to maintain current high levels of employment in the sector.

The second goal is to find ways to raise the public profile of the chemicals sector. According to the Commission, despite its significant contribution to the daily lives of citizens through both traditional sectors such as agriculture, construction and textiles, as well as high-tech industries such as automobiles, modern healthcare and electronics, society still views the industry in a negative light.

Finally, the group will look to adapt the energy intensive sector to the challenges posed by climate change, whilst simultaneously seeking to take advantage of its potential in terms of developing energy-saving technologies, such as biofuels.

The group is also expected to formulate a set of sector-specific policy recommendations by spring 2009.

High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the European Chemicals Industry

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