Lisbon to look for firm action

The forthcoming summit in Lisbon on 23 and 24 April, entitled 'Employment, economic reforms and social cohesion - towards a Europe based on innovation and knowledge' aims to be more than just a talking shop. It intends to ensure that there is enhanced co-ordination of Europe's social and economic policies so that growth, competitiveness and employment in Europe can grow in the continent's new changed conditions. These include globalisation, technological changes and the launch of the euro.

The objectives it sets will be long term, with strategic goals for the next ten years. Ultimately, the aim of all of these goals will be greater social cohesion and better jobs.

Concrete measures that will be proposed at the summit include the following:

- New applications of information technologies in products and services;
- European passports for information technologies;
- Connection of all schools to the Internet;
- A European charter on basic skills;
- Expansion of e-commerce;
- A European charter of small companies;
- Programmes of direct conversion of the unemployed through qualifications which are in shortage in the labour market;
- Eradication of child poverty by 2010;
- Risk capital for innovative companies and fostering public/private partnerships to speed up big public investments.

According to Manuel Meneses, press officer for the Portuguese representation in Brussels, 'research should figure quite highly at the meeting'. Once the measures to be taken forward have been decided, benchmarking will be introduced 'through experience, to see which are the best results from the different countries and to see what the best practices are.'

Funding for the measures has yet to be decided, but it will be drawn from a combination of the EU and national budgets, and the European Investment Bank.