Lisbon Agenda reduced to ‘nothing’, declares Kok

By Anna McLauchlin

WIM Kok's report into EU competitiveness paints a damning picture of Europe's failure to reform itself, saying that the Lisbon Agenda has become “about everything and thus about nothing”.

The draft depicts faltering progress towards the target set by government leaders in 2000 of making the EU the world's most competitive economy by 2010.

Employment goals are unlikely to be met as job creation stopped in 2001 and only a handful of member states have achieved the target employment rates. Only three countries have boosted research and development spending to the target of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP). Most EU countries are below their Kyoto pledges on greenhouse gas emissions.

The report will be presented to the European Commission on 3 November. It was commissioned by the EU heads of state and government in March after they admitted that they were falling badly behind their Lisbon goals.

A group of experts chaired by the Dutch former prime minister Wim Kok was asked to review the Lisbon Strategy.

Its report warns that if Europe does not adapt, it will not be able to afford its growing numbers of pensioners and its prosperity will wane and eventually die out. “Europe, in short, cannot afford to fail.”

The report makes 21 recommendations about research, the internal market, innovation, labour reform and sustainability.

Member states should decide by July 2005 how they will slash their administrative burden, implement financial services laws by the end of 2005 and take concrete steps towards making it easier for people to set up businesses.

The report calls on member states to be more accountable, finalize national action plans by the end of 2005 and appoint a representative to oversee the co-ordination of national progress.

The draft provoked mixed reactions in Brussels. An industry source told European Voice that while the draft is an “excellent assessment of the dire straits the Lisbon Strategy is in”, it does not insist enough on how the problem should be tackled.

“It says governments need to focus more, but it fails to take the final step of saying that that focus should be on economic reform,” he said. “It doesn't explicitly tell governments to focus on that most important part.”

But French Socialist MEP Pervenche Bérès, who chairs the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, said the report concentrated too much on economics.

“The Kok group has clearly only looked at competitiveness and just decided that the issues of employment and the environment will follow as a result,” she said. “The Lisbon Strategy will be severely weakened by this.”

Bérès also expressed concern about the focus on national governments. “Lisbon is not just about competition between member states, it's about added value. If there is no European engine moving the process it will not work.”

Centre-right Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi said that “if the Kok report does not bring new impetus to the debate, then we can start to bury the Lisbon Agenda”. “Kok was the last glimmer of hope we had,” she added.

At the Lisbon Council, a group campaigning for the Lisbon Agenda, Ann Mettler criticized the Kok group's report. “With a team of only union leaders, big business representatives and an average age of 57, it's not surprising that this bureaucratic solution has been reached,” she said.

Preview of a report to be presented to the European Commission on 3 November 2004. The report that reviews the Lisbon Strategy had been commissioned by EU heads of state and government and was drafted by a group of experts chaired by the Dutch former prime minister Wim Kok. The reports paints a very negative picture of the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda.