Wim Kok confirmed as chair of high-level group on Lisbon Strategy
The former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Wim Kok, has been confirmed as the chair of a high-level group on the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy, having been widely tipped for the role. The group has been asked to provide the Commission with a report by November, containing suggestions on how to give new impetus to the Lisbon process. The Commission will use the report to prepare its proposals for the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy in 2005. It was during the Lisbon European Council in 2000 that EU Heads of State and Government pledged to transform the European Union into the world's most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010. Yet, as the halfway point in that process approaches, both the Commission and the European Council admit that too little has been done to achieve this objective. The decision to create the high-level group was taken by the European Council in March. In particular, it will look at ways of improving the delivery of key objectives, ensuring the closer involvement of Member States and stakeholders in the process, as well as assessing the instruments and approaches used to date. Alongside its chairperson, the group comprises 12 leading figures representing different stakeholder groups. Among these are Anne-Marie Idrac, chair of RAPT, the Paris public transport system, and a former Transport Minister; Will Hutton, governor of the London School of Economics and chief executive of the Works Foundation; and Niall Fitzgerald, chair of Unilever and co-chair of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue.