Lisbon Strategy: Results of the meeting with the 27 national coordinators
J. M. Barroso, C. Lagarde
© Ministère de l'économie, de l'industrie et de l'emploi - Sircom
- On: 05.12.2008
- In: Paris, Palais d'Iena
At the invitation of Christine Lagarde, the French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, the national coordinators for the Lisbon Strategy, i.e. the representatives of the 27 Member States responsible for coordinating the strategies for growth and employment in Europe, met this morning in Paris.
Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission, Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, and Vladimir Spidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, also participated in this meeting.
The national coordinators for the Lisbon Strategy discussed the European recovery plan and the European structural reforms for growth and employment with the European Commission in the light of the current crisis.
They underlined that the current economic and financial crisis showed the importance for the EU countries to adopt common objectives and coordinate their actions in economic and financial affairs, while remaining flexible with regard to the national implementation of these actions.
Beyond the immediate responses to the economic and financial crisis - notably the Commisson’s proposals of 26 November for a European recovery plan - which were discussed at the ECOFIN Council presided over by Christine Lagarde on 2 December, the coordinators recalled the importance of pursuing structural reforms in Europe. They also emphasised the need to ensure that the reforms take account of the lessons learned from the current crisis and provide responses to the current challenges to lead to renewed growth and employment in Europe. The meeting on 5 December is the first stage in this process which will be concluded in March 2010.
The Lisbon Strategy has already enabled the fundamental elements of the European economy to be strengthened. While it has made it possible to advance on some key objectives, such as employment rates, much work is still needed to transform Europen into a more innovative, knowledge-based and low-carbon economy.
In view of the adaptation of the Lisbon Stategy beyond 2010, the national coordinators for the Lisbon Strategy have a similar view on the challenges that Europe must meet. Globalisation, with the increasing global interdependence of economies and the emergence of new players, is a given to which economic policies must respond. Europe must adapt its policies to take advantage of globalisation rather than to endure it. Other challenges must be taken into account: the need to ensure social cohesion and increase the employment rate, the ageing of European populations, climate change and access to natural resources, the need to be at the cutting edge of new technologies to be competitive, etc.
As part of this process, the national-co-ordinators for the Lisbon Strategy:
- established concurring analyses on the objectives that Europe should prioritise to find a way to new growth. The main priorities are investing in human capital, knowledge and innovation, modernising the labour markets, and drawing up active social cohesion policies, promoting “green” growth and an environment favourable to enterprises and economic activity ;
- highlighted the need to reinforce the external dimension of their actions with regard to globalisation, for example, by ensuring the promotion of European norms and standards and strengthening dialogue between the EU and the world’s other major economic blocs. They also emphasised the importance of investment in infrastructures, particularly in information and communication technologies and high-speed internet access ;
- underlined the importance of fully exploiting the tools for implementing the strategy to improve ownership of reforms by EU citizens and to increase the effectiveness of these reforms.
Following the meeting of the 27, the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in partnership with the European Commission, organised a seminar on these topics to provide the Lisbon strategy stakeholders – employers’ representatives, trade unions and civil society – with an opportunity to express their point of view on these subjects.
Within the framework of the usual meetings of the Lisbon national co-ordinators, presided over by President Barroso, the future Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union invited its coordinators to meet in Prague in the first half of 2009 to continue this process.
- Updated: 30.12.2008
