‘No need to copy US to reach Lisbon goals’

Date: 20/03/03

By Martin Banks

THE European Union does not have to slavishly copy the United States in order to achieve its objective of becoming the world's most dynamic economy, insists Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou.

While acknowledging that the Union faces "several problems" in achieving its ambitious target, she believes it need not follow the labour market and social policy methods employed in America.

"There are major political and cultural differences which set Europe apart and we already have the European model.

"We do things differently in Europe and it is important we do not all become Americans," she told a meeting of policymakers and academics.

Speaking ahead of the two-day summit of European heads of state and government in Brussels, which starts today (20 March), Diamantopoulou urged an approach which would inject only the best US employment practices into the European system.

For example, the EU would do well to match the mobility of the American workforce and flexibility of its labour markets, she told the meeting organised by the European Policy Centre.

She said it was important that EU leaders provided fresh impetus to the targets agreed at the Lisbon summit in 2000, to make the Union the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010. The Greek commissioner stressed that events in Iraq should not deflect the summit from addressing the Lisbon agenda.

"I don't know how much time the leaders will be able to spend on discussing the Lisbon goals, but I am looking to the summit to provide a strong lead in accelerating this process.

"Everything is in place. We now need to deliver on the promises made at Lisbon, not just in meeting the targets but exceeding them," she said.

The Lisbon targets include pledges to reach 70 employment levels across the Union by the end of the decade, to increase the female workforce from 55 to 60 and also to boost the proportion of older employees (aged 55-64) from 38.8 to 50 by 2010.

Diamantopoulou said that progress had been made towards achieving these targets, with ten million new jobs created since 1997, six million of which had been taken up by women.

But a "very wide range" of labour market reforms were still needed: "There is too much rigidity, particularly in some member states, and we certainly need to accelerate the reform process," she said.

Enlargement in June 2004 would provide a new challenge, added Diamantopoulou: "The future new member states show higher unemployment and lower employment rates than the present ones and to reach the Lisbon targets in an enlarged EU will require even more ambitious and pertinent policies."

The European Union does not have to slavishly copy the United States in order to achieve its objective of becoming the world's most dynamic economy, insists Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou.