Tanaiste Mary Harney has said the EU needs lighter regulation of industry and business and speedier decision-making.
She was speaking to reporters in Dromoland, Co Clare, following talks between the EU Competitiveness Council and US and European business leaders.
The talks covered the challenges facing European industry, particularly from lower-cost economies in the Far East.
The Enterprise, Trade & Employment Minister said the EU needed to agree issues such the EU patent, so that inventors could have a single patent protecting their inventions.
Ms Harney said business leaders had told the EU that outsourcing to the Far East was 'not the issue', and that investment decisions would be influenced by productivity growth and the climate for business in the EU and member states.
