Press Release: The first ‘Brussels Forum’ opens today at the initiative of Commissioner Solbes

On 4.5.00,Pedro Solbes, EU Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, called a high level public debate on economic policy making in the European Union. He said that 'the Brussels Economic Forum aims to become an annual event bringing together academia, private sector economists, social partners, specialised media and the wider public in order to discuss the co-ordination and surveillance of economic policy in the Union'. President Prodi opened the Forum, underlying the importance the Commission attaches to this type of public debates as a way to contribute to the implementation of the economic and social agenda agreed at the Lisbon European Council in March 2000.