Critics charge that those cozy cash-fed agreements have given industry far too much influence over the regulatory process.
Ms. Reding has long campaigned for major changes in European boardrooms and had given industry "a last chance" to improve its record on placing women in top management.
The nearly 40-year history of the Clean Air Act has shown that science — and the threat of costly penalties — have given industry the tools and incentive to find ways to cut ozone-producing gases.
Mrs. Whitman listened to all sides and then told President Bush that the rules' benefits were well worth their costs to industry, and that Ms. Browner had given industry a generous time frame, six years, in which to comply.
But the price collapse brings echoes of 2006 when it emerged that EU states had given industry too many carbon credits, creating a glut that made them almost worthless.
One thing not under dispute: Motorola's delays have given industry leader Nokia an edge.
He won't convince everyone, but few in the industry would deny his phenomenal success in the US has given the industry as a whole a healthy financial boost.
The federal government, for example, has given an industry group the authority to set standards.
But deregulation, combined with the recent electricity shortage, has given the industry new life instead.
"It has given the industry a break, but it is not an optimum solution," Mr. Pérez Cano said.
