Regional and national authorities invited to take ownership of Lisbon strategy
National and regional representatives made the case for their full involvement in the Lisbon strategy on 16 March. Their involvement is, in fact, decisive for the success of the project, said Committee of the Regions Secretary General Gerhard Stahl. Mr Stahl was speaking at a conference on 'Excellence in regions - regional actors driving the European Research Area'. He claimed that some European institutions and national actors do not appreciate the role that local and regional authorities must play in Lisbon in order for it to be successful. 'Achieving common goals will only be possible if all governance levels are coordinated more closely and if regions and regional authorities are able to increase investment in research and innovation,' he said. Similar views were expressed at a parliamentary meeting between MEPs and their national counterparts on the Lisbon strategy. Most speakers agreed that national ownership of the strategy is the key to its success: the majority of the reforms needed for Lisbon must be implemented at national level However, as Speaker of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies Lucien Weiler indicated, some Member States feel that more guidance is needed before the strategy can be embraced at national level. There are too many official documents, which say little about how to put the strategy into practice, he told the meeting. Progress towards the Lisbon goal of making Europe's economy the most competitive in the world by 2010 was universally recognised as poor. While European Parliament President Josep Borrell described the results so far as 'somewhere between mediocre and terrible', Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker termed them 'abysmally bad'. Mr Juncker also had a message for those who have endorsed the slimming down of the Lisbon objective while, at the same time, speaking of new areas to be addressed: 'We cannot let the strategy become a Christmas tree decorated with so many wish lists that the branches break. Everyone says the list is too long but also has suggestions for new items!' Back at the regions and research conference, Mr Stahl welcomed the Kok report and its call for research to be made a top priority within the Lisbon strategy, but said that the Committee of the Regions would have preferred to see a more decentralised approach. EU research funding requires an approach based on differentiation rather than harmonisation, he said, adding: 'The concept of 'one size fits all' should not be applied across all thematic areas and instruments.'