On 2nd October 2014, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Member designate of the EC in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,was heard by the Committees on Industry, Research and Energy and on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament. The Committees on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and on Legal Affairs were also associated to the hearing. The objective of this hearing was to test general competences of Elżbieta Bieńkowska, her European commitment and her specific expertise related to her portfolio. On this occasion, Elżbieta Bieńkowska had the opportunity to make an opening statement and took part in a question and answer session.

Brussels

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

exchange of views

CHARANZOVÁ, Dita (Renew, CZ)

LEWANDOWSKI, Janusz (EPP, PL)

BIEŃKOWSKA, Elżbieta (PL, EC)

VAN BREMPT, Kathleen (S&D, BE)

hearing

de JONG, Dennis (GUE/NGL, NL)

BÜTIKOFER, Reinhard (Greens/EFA, DE)

hearing of Elżbieta BIEŃKOWSKA (T)

Hearing of Elżbieta BIEŃKOWSKA (Poland), Commissioner-designate for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs: MEPs questions & answers

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (EPP, PL), What are the most promising instruments in the tool box of Europe to fill this gap, because here is a market failure.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, <p>My conclusion is: It's not about a shortage of money, it's about the money being spent in an inappropriate manner and not in such a way that the money generates the biggest possible added value.</p>  <p>Regional Funds were they being spent appropriately, there it's very efficient and there is a leverage fact in their use.</p>

SOUNDBITE (English), Kathleen VAN BREMPT (S&amp;D, BE), If you look to re-industrialisation and you want to do that in a sustainable way what would be the main sectors you would identify?

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, It's not about giving a special treatment to a selection of sectors of Europe, no, we will take care of all the sectors, I mentioned the car sector, chemicals, also construction.. all those industries are correlated, and also related with other industries and the services industry, but we would like to make sure that none of the sectors is left aside.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Andrzej DUDA (ECR, PL), Corruption is not only those things that are obvious from the legal point of view, sometimes it's about giving special treatment which destroys the public procurement system so my question is will the Commission want to get involved in the more difficult cases?

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, If the administration is well trained and well prepared and the system is well thought out for the flow of funds of public money, where there are red flags coming up when there is a problem, then the risk of corruption is almost non-existent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dita CHARANZOV&#193; (ALDE, CZ), How will you make sure that the SME tests are properly done for any new proposal you will prepare?

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Small firms first will be a principle that we will try to apply at all levels. As I have already mentioned, all the tools that are available at the moment that could make it possible to assess the impact before a given act is implemented will be definitely used by us.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Dennis de JONG (GUE/NGL, NL), We are very worried and we are against the idea of shifting the responsibility for medicines from DG Health to DG Industry.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, I believe that putting the pharmaceutical industry together with other branches of industry is justified. It is an industry which is the biggest producer in the world globally. It is an industry where the EU is the world's third larger exporter. Let me now guarantee you that the 4 points I mentioned: health, safety, quality, availability, with respect to these sector, those will be our top priorities.

SOUNDBITE (German), Reinhard B&#220;TIKOFER (Greens/EFA, DE), Without sustainability we won't be able to remain competitive. Now, within the framework of the European Semester I would like to ask you what we can do to bring this about?

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Innovation, advanced technologies, energy efficiency and raw material efficiency definitely should be the pillars of our industry in Europe. I think we should focus on modernisation of our production base, on new technologies, specially most advanced technologies but also key enabling technologies.  

SOUNDBITE (Polish), El&#380;bieta BIE&#323;KOWSKA, Commissioner-designate in charge of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, answers to a question of David BORRELLI, from the EFDD group: We will use all avenues possible to make sure that access to financing for SMEs is improved because we realise it is a basic barrier that they face.