Finance ministers welcome progress on Lisbon objectives
EU Member States' finance ministers, meeting in the Ecofin Council in Brussels on 28 November, have described the overall progress towards meeting the Lisbon objectives as 'encouraging', but have urged more to be done, particularly in fostering private research and development (R&D) investment. Discussing the implementation by Member States of National Reform Programmes (NRPs) for the period 2005 to 2008, ministers welcomed many of the reforms, which are already bearing fruit. In particular, they looked favourably on the progress made by Member States in creating the right conditions for boosting Europe's innovation performance, pointing to efforts to increase research cooperation between industry and academy; developing a 'well-balanced and user-friendly' intellectual property rights system; and providing access to capital, especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). But Member States should not rest on their laurels just yet, ministers said. 'Europe should make good use of the current relatively favourable economic outlook to build upon the reforms already underway and turn to the areas where progress remains limited,' reads the Council's statement. Ministers singled out the need to foster more private investment in R&D, alluding to the overall EU objective of becoming the world's most competitive economy by 2010. Particular attention, they said, should also be given to supporting innovation in the services sector and creating an innovation-friendly environment for companies. Furthermore, 'Member States should strive to maximise returns on innovation inputs by enhancing the quality of their policy measures, especially the effectiveness of public research expenditure,' reads the statement. Also discussed was the need to increase employment, create a fully integrated single energy market, and maintain momentum on regulatory framework reform.