Ireland highlights the positives in EU Presidency report
In a newly published report on their six month Presidency of the European Union, the Irish government has highlighted its achievements in the area of competitiveness and growth. First, the report notes that at the Spring European Summit, the EU reiterated its commitment to the Lisbon agenda and agreed that delivering sustainable growth and more and better jobs were key priorities for the year ahead. The Irish Presidency was also able to secure an agreement to 'broaden the participation of relevant stakeholders in implementing the Lisbon agenda,' it adds. The report writers believe the mid-term review of the Lisbon agenda will provide an important opportunity to assess how well reforms are being delivered. 'The Irish Presidency secured agreement at the Spring European Council on the parameters for that review [and] invited the Commission to establish a high-level group to prepare an independent analysis of progress on the Lisbon agenda,' they state. Progress has also been made on developing the European Research Area (ERA) since January and, according to the report, key achievements include the creation of Trans-European Networks (TENs) in transport and energy, progress in implementing the Galileo satellite navigation project, new measures to promote entrepreneurship, and the rapid introduction of the environmental technologies action plan. Despite the achievements of the Irish EU Presidency, however, there are still a number of open issues for the incoming Dutch Presidency to try to resolve, such as finding agreement on a Community patent, clarifying rules on EU support for human embryonic stem cell research, and reaching a satisfactory outcome to negotiations on a location for ITER (international thermonuclear experimental reactor).
Kraje
Ireland