(a) measures to improve the design, implementation and evaluation of policies affecting the competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises, including disaster resilience, and to secure the development of appropriate infrastructures, world class clusters and business networks, framework conditions and development of sustainable products, services and processes;

16. Is concerned about the de facto subordination of the EU internal Lisbon competitiveness strategy to the EU's external competitiveness goals as outlined in the Commission communication 'Global Europe – Competing in the World'; warns against an EU competitiveness policy which is exclusively geared to the global transaction needs of EU-based transnational companies, to the detriment of the social interests of European workers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which need a cautious approach to global competition; warns against the envisaged international regulatory cooperation, which will give transnational companies and t ...[+++]hird states a sort of right to intervene in EU legislation concerning Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade (NTBs), which, according to the WTO definition, also include important parts of social, environmental and consumer rights and future law-making;

The Commission will ambitiously pursue this objective and launch a major new initiative before the Spring Council, which includes: Better assessing the effect of new legislative/policy proposals on competitiveness, also through its Impact Assessment instrument.

An example of the potential for progress in this domain is the Communication on a pro-active Competition Policy for a competitive Europe that will be adopted on the same day as this document, and which will examine in detail the contribution of Competition policy to the competitiveness of Europe's economy.

In other words, they must take care to take full account of the impact of their political decisions on competitiveness.

Policies supporting competitiveness will contribute to arresting the de-industrialization process; such policies will also contribute to the orderly transition towards a modern industrial economy.