EU leaders will be told that the pace of reform must be stepped up if 2010 targets for growth and employment are to be met. The ETUC rejects the one-sided neo-liberal policy approach and calls for a new one with a better balance between economic, social and environmental policies.

The Lisbon Strategy

The European Union has from now until 2010 to meet the ambitious targets that EU leaders set four years ago. In Lisbon, in March 2000, the European Council agreed to make the EU “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustaining economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.” The Lisbon Strategy brings together economic, social and environmental policies and includes specific targets: an overall employment rate of at least 70% - requiring some 15 million new jobs - including 60% for women and 50% for 54 to 65-year-old. At Lisbon, the Heads of Government also decided that a European Council will meet every year in the Spring Time. The main tasks of this Spring Summit will be to consider the economic and social questions and to ensure an efficient follow up of the progresses achieved.

Where we are:

In its draft summit conclusions, the EU Presidency admits that while these goals remain valid, progress has been “mixed” and the Lisbon agenda risks losing momentum. Better implementation of the commitments already agreed at EU and Member State level is crucial. The Spring Summit will focus in particular on promoting sustainable growth and creating more and better jobs.

“It is already apparent that important growth and employment interim targets will not be achieved by 2005,” notes the ETUC. “Trade unions reject the one-sided use of the strategy to legitimise neo-liberal policy approaches. It must be implemented in a manner that is economically, socially and ecologically balanced.”

The summit agenda of the Irish Presidency

The ETUC welcomes the Irish Presidency’s statement that jobs and competitiveness must be the highest political priority, and its decision to place progress on the Lisbon Strategy for growth and employment at the top of its agenda for the Spring Summit. The summit will also examine the Intergovernmental Conference and the stalemate on the Constitutional Treaty, and the international situation in the wake of the Madrid bombings.