Sunday, June 19, 2005
http://europa.eu.int/growthandjobs/index_en.htm
A new start for the Lisbon Strategy
Jobs, growth, the environment and a proper social network. These, in a nutshell, are the main concerns of Europe's citizens. The current lack of economic growth affects all of us; our pensions, salaries and our standard of living considerably suffer from it.
If we do not act immediately, our valued social and environmental model will become unaffordable. In the face of international competition and an ageing population, growth could soon decrease to 1% per year (more than half of today's growth ).
To avoid this, Heads of State and Government of the European Union met in Lisbon in 2000 and launched a series of ambitious reforms at national and European level. By establishing an effective internal market, by boosting research and innovation and by improving education, to name only a few reform efforts, they aimed to make the European Union “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world” by 2010.
We are now half-way through the process and the results are not very satisfactory. The implementation of reform in Member States has been quite scarce. The reform package consists of 28 main objectives and 120 sub-objectives, with 117 different indicators. The reporting system for 25 Member States adds up to no fewer than 300 annual reports. Nobody reads of all of them.
To remedy this lack of commitment of Member States, the Commission proposed to establish a new kind of partnership with Member States. It also decided to focus efforts on two main areas: productivity and employment. To make things simpler and more coherent, there should be just one national growth programme and one EU growth plan.
The European Union cannot boost productivity and employment if Member States do not do their part.
Latest NewsThe
Lisbon strategy: a motor for market reforms of network industries - Joint
conference at the EESC - Brussels, 1&2 June 2005
13/06/2005 - Looking small, thinking big – keeping Europe at the forefront of nanotechnology
13/06/2005 - Europeans support more money for EU research
13/06/2005 - A new face for SMEs: Estonian Maive Rute takes on the job as "SME Envoy"
13/06/2005 - Why are one-person-enterprises not hiring?
09/06/2005 - Why Europe needs research spending
08/06/2005 - "Tell us where to cut red-tape", Commission asks business in online consultation
08/06/2005 - Competitiveness Council of Ministers, Luxembourg, 6 June 2005 and Space Council 7 June
07/06/2005 - State Aid: Commission outlines comprehensive five year reform of state aid policy to promote growth, jobs and cohesion
07/06/2005 - State Aid Action Plan - frequently asked questions
07/06/2005 - European space policy will take off before the end of 2005
07/06/2005 - Neelie Kroes, Member of the European Commission in charge of Competition Policy - The State Aid Action Plan - Introductory remarks at open meeting of coordinators of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, European Parliament
01/06/2005 - Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media - i2010: Europe Must Seize the Opportunities of the Digital Economy Press Conference on the occasion of the launch of the initiative European Information Society 2010
01/06/2005 - Commission launches five-year strategy to boost the digitaleconomy
01/06/2005 - High-speed
A new start for the Lisbon Strategy
Jobs, growth, the environment and a proper social network. These, in a nutshell, are the main concerns of Europe's citizens. The current lack of economic growth affects all of us; our pensions, salaries and our standard of living considerably suffer from it.
If we do not act immediately, our valued social and environmental model will become unaffordable. In the face of international competition and an ageing population, growth could soon decrease to 1% per year (more than half of today's growth ).
To avoid this, Heads of State and Government of the European Union met in Lisbon in 2000 and launched a series of ambitious reforms at national and European level. By establishing an effective internal market, by boosting research and innovation and by improving education, to name only a few reform efforts, they aimed to make the European Union “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world” by 2010.
We are now half-way through the process and the results are not very satisfactory. The implementation of reform in Member States has been quite scarce. The reform package consists of 28 main objectives and 120 sub-objectives, with 117 different indicators. The reporting system for 25 Member States adds up to no fewer than 300 annual reports. Nobody reads of all of them.
To remedy this lack of commitment of Member States, the Commission proposed to establish a new kind of partnership with Member States. It also decided to focus efforts on two main areas: productivity and employment. To make things simpler and more coherent, there should be just one national growth programme and one EU growth plan.
The European Union cannot boost productivity and employment if Member States do not do their part.
Latest NewsThe
Lisbon strategy: a motor for market reforms of network industries - Joint
conference at the EESC - Brussels, 1&2 June 2005
13/06/2005 - Looking small, thinking big – keeping Europe at the forefront of nanotechnology
13/06/2005 - Europeans support more money for EU research
13/06/2005 - A new face for SMEs: Estonian Maive Rute takes on the job as "SME Envoy"
13/06/2005 - Why are one-person-enterprises not hiring?
09/06/2005 - Why Europe needs research spending
08/06/2005 - "Tell us where to cut red-tape", Commission asks business in online consultation
08/06/2005 - Competitiveness Council of Ministers, Luxembourg, 6 June 2005 and Space Council 7 June
07/06/2005 - State Aid: Commission outlines comprehensive five year reform of state aid policy to promote growth, jobs and cohesion
07/06/2005 - State Aid Action Plan - frequently asked questions
07/06/2005 - European space policy will take off before the end of 2005
07/06/2005 - Neelie Kroes, Member of the European Commission in charge of Competition Policy - The State Aid Action Plan - Introductory remarks at open meeting of coordinators of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, European Parliament
01/06/2005 - Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media - i2010: Europe Must Seize the Opportunities of the Digital Economy Press Conference on the occasion of the launch of the initiative European Information Society 2010
01/06/2005 - Commission launches five-year strategy to boost the digitaleconomy
01/06/2005 - High-speed
