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The heads of state and of government of the EU member countries, who will meet in the European Council on 23-24 March, will no doubt dedicate their meetings this spring to the problems of the socio-economic development of the Union and policies suitable for overcoming them. The consultations have as their object and have had since 2000 the so-called Lisbon Strategy, with which the EU intends to tackle the challenge of globalization by pursuing the objective of combating unemployment and the phase of weak economic growth in EU member states. Unfortunately, in the first half of the period planned for the implementation of the Strategy (2000 – 2010), the heads of state and of government have failed for the most part to turn words into actions. They have failed to implement at the national level what they had promised during the European summit. They have also failed to mobilise the citizens and the socio-economic players of their own country, i.e. the organizations of civil society and the social partners, and persuade them to assume their role and responsibilities. At the same time, the attempts of some governments to manipulate the Stability Pact, mainstay of monetary union, have caused a loss of confidence in the European Union. In addition, a political crisis has erupted as a consequence of the disarray caused by the rejection of the draft Constitution in France and Holland. Even though the new year has opened with signals of an improvement in the climate of confidence in Europe, to which the consensus reached in early December on the EU budget for the next seven years undoubtedly contributed, Europe nonetheless has not totally succeeded in overcoming the effects produced by the loss of confidence. Against this background, Austria, which assumed the revolving Presidency of the European Council at the start of the year, will do its utmost, during the spring summit, to ensure that people’s confidence in the active role played by and the possibilities of member states be restored. Last summer the European Commission in reviewing the first five years of the Lisbon Strategy drew up a programme for taking forward the Lisbon process, indicating guidelines and priorities. As part of this programme member states undertake to define action plans to submit to the approval of the Commission, with the aim of sensitising and mobilising member states, and perhaps also linking national and European programmes. To this end, at the spring summit, the European Commission will present a report on the progress being made that will serve as the basis for further studies and decisions. It will be of the utmost importance to strike the right balance between economic and social needs without ignoring the criteria of sustainability, as affirmed in paragraph 24 of the document in which the Lisbon Strategy was launched. “People are the main resource of Europe and the policies of the Union should be predicated on them. Investing in people and developing an active and dynamic social State will be vital for Europe’s position in the economy of knowledge. It will also be an essential condition to prevent the development of this new economy from aggravating the existing social problems represented by unemployment, social exclusion and poverty”.
