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 t the special meeting held in Lisbon on 23-24 March, the European Council established a new strategic goal for the coming decade - for the European Union "to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".
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Jaime Gama, Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs (left), and António Guterres, Portugal's Prime Minister, at the Lisbon Summit - with, behind (left to right) George Papandreou, Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Francisco Seixas Da Costa, State Secretary for European Affairs and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference. | Speaking in London just one week later, Erkki Liikanen, European Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner, stressed the strategic significance of the Council's decisions. "European heads of state and government have given their strong commitment to ensure that Europe catches up in the digital economy and becomes a competitive and entrepreneurial economy," he said. "The powerful message from Lisbon is that delay is not an option. We must move fast to accelerate Europe's transformation."
Window of opportunity
The Council was responding, said the Portuguese Presidency in its conclusions, to "a quantum shift resulting from globalisation and the challenges of a new knowledge-driven economy". Europe's employment rate is still too low, its service sector remains underdeveloped, and there are growing skills shortages in the key sector of information technology. At the same time, the most positive macro-economic outlook for a generation offers Europe an opportunity to address these weaknesses through a co-ordinated package of economic and social reforms.
First and foremost, the strategy outlined by the Council aims to "prepare the transition to a knowledge-based economy and society":
- by creating an information society for all(1)
- by establishing a European area of research and innovation
- by creating a friendly environment for starting up and developing innovative businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- through economic reforms for a complete and fully operational internal market
- by ensuring efficient and integrated financial markets
- through improved co-ordination of macro-economic policies - fiscal consolidation, and quality and the sustainability of public finances
Innovation measures
A number of specific decisions are of particular interest to the innovation community:
- the use of tax policies, venture capital and European Investment Bank (EIB) support to improve the environment for private research investment, R&D partnerships and high-technology start-ups
- introduction of a Community Patent by the end of 2001
- the development of mechanisms to co-ordinate national and EU research programmes, and the removal of barriers to the mobility of researchers
- further efforts to lower the costs of doing business and remove unnecessary red tape, especially for SMEs, as a stimulus to investment, innovation, and entrepreneurship
- action to encourage interfaces between companies and financial markets, R&D and training institutions, advisory services and technological markets
"We cannot legislate for 'entrepreneurial spirit'. But we can put enterprise policy at the centre of our priorities. That, Lisbon has done," concluded Mr Liikanen.
(1) The Information Society aspects of the Council's decisions are covered in this edition's dossier on e-commerce.
Contact
The full text of the Presidency Conclusions is available at http://www.europa.eu.int/council/off/conclu/mar2000/
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LISBON SUMMIT
