CORDIS Archive
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"Four years after Lisbon it is clear that we are going to miss our mid-term targets," Commission President Romano Prodi warned Member States when he presented the Commission's 'Spring Report'(1) earlier this year. "Member States do not seem to realise that 2010 is around the corner." Missing the mid-term targets - after all, the halfway point towards the target date of 2010 is just months away - should "serve as a wake-up call to governments", he emphasised. TargetsAs economic recovery begins to take hold in Europe, the Commission wants to see Member States using this as a spur to reinvigorate the Lisbon strategy. Furthermore, with EU enlargement bringing ten new Member States into the fold on 1 May, Prodi believes this will also provide significant impetus to the process. For the coming year, the Commission has set out three key priorities where Member States should take action. In some cases this action means taking decisions at EU level, adopting measures which will encourage enterprise. In others, action is needed at national or lower levels to unblock the business environment, making it easier for entrepreneurs to establish and grow companies which will each contribute to the Union's economic growth. Still others require less direct action, which nonetheless will improve the skills or the motivation of individuals to play their role in a dynamic economy. The first priority set out by the Commission is to improve investments in knowledge and networks. Under this heading come EU actions such as Quick Start and the Growth initiative(2), designed to speed up investment in critical infrastructure for transport and telecommunications, as well as on research and innovation. Investing in research, to move towards the target of investing 3% of GDP (compared to 1.9% today), is also a fundamental part of this priority. In addition, investment in education and training is vital if sufficient well-qualified human resources are to be available to realise these targets. Priority number two is that of strengthening European competitiveness. Here there are a number of legislative proposals currently winding their way through the Parliament and Council, such as the proposed framework directive on services which would make it simpler for firms to offer services throughout the Union. In addition to these legislative proposals, the Commission also wants to see greater synergies developing between industrial, environmental and research sectors. Thirdly, the Union's ageing population needs to be addressed. 'Active ageing', whereby older workers are encouraged to remain in the workforce, should be encouraged, in particular by abolishing financial incentives for early retirements. And healthcare systems need to be modernised to make them more financially viable as patients are living longer. CommitmentAbove all, what Prodi wants to see from Member States is the transformation of statements on the European stage into action at national level. "At European level we have advanced steadily in setting the right priorities, but Member States have not demonstrated enough 'ownership'," he says. Specifically, he notes that Member States need to show "a greater readiness to adopt the requisite national implementing legislation. According to the latest survey, national legislation is still needed for an average of around 40% of directives adopted in connection with the Lisbon objectives. This is holding up the implementation of the strategy in significant areas, such as electronic communications and the integration of the railway networks." But the Commission acknowledges that it is not all bad news. Some 6 million jobs have been created since 1999, despite the economic slowdown, and there have been significant reductions in long-term unemployment rates, and female employment rates have gone up. "We need to make sure the reforms do not remain patchy and isolated," underlines Prodi. "They will have substantial impact only if they are implemented in a coordinated way and as part of an overall strategy." He calculates that Europe's potential growth can increase by up to three-quarters of a percentage point a year in the next five to ten years, but only if the necessary reforms can be applied swiftly and in an integrated fashion. (1) 'Delivering Lisbon - Reforms for the enlarged Union', COM(2004) 29, may be downloaded from http://europa.eu.int/comm/
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LISBON STRATEGY
hen the leaders of the European Union's Member States come together in Brussels on 25 March for their annual review of the Union's economic development, they will recall that four years have passed since a previous European Council meeting set the goal of making the EU the "most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world". Indeed, many of those same prime ministers and presidents were themselves party to that decision in Lisbon in 2000. But, should they look forward to 2010, by which time the goal is supposed to have been reached, they will have significant cause to worry about the Union's progress.