A fresh start for Lisbon” “

The conclusions of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Union concerning the spring meeting of the European Council of Ministers are contained in a document of some forty printed pages. The European Council, meeting on 22-23 March, especially tackled economic questions. The heads of state and of government have already agreed to meet again in mid-June, when the financial Prospects for the EU up till 2013 and the war on terror will be at the centre of the discussions. A RENEWED PACT TO SUPPORT GROWTH. The leaders of the 25 have spelt out some important decisions regarding the future of the EU. The summit’s main results include, in the first place, the reform of the Stability Pact, drafted during a preceding meeting of ECOFIN (economic and financial ministers). Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Junker, current President of the EU Council of Ministers, explained that “the reform has not changed the ceiling of 3%, so the EU rules will continue to restrict deficits to levels close to 3%” of gross domestic product. Nor has there been any change to another fundamental parameter established at Maastricht, that is, the ratio between debt and GDP fixed at 60%. The real innovation consists in the relaxation of the procedures and deadlines fixed to oblige states that have exceeded these limits to return to ‘virtuous’ public finances. The Pact has therefore been redesigned in view of the primary need to revive national economies, to permit greater elasticity to those countries that undertake investments and reforms. CompetitivENESS: A FRESH START FROM Lisbon. Equally significant was the Council’s discussion, not devoid of heated exchanges between the heads of state and of government, which led to the adoption of a text to revive the flagging Lisbon Strategy, aimed at turning the EU into the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. “Action is urgently needed – says the final document of the Council Presidency -. To this end it is indispensable to re-launch without delay the Lisbon Strategy and proceed to a reform of its priorities in terms of growth and employment”. The EU is therefore appealing to the member states and “all the actors involved, national parliaments, regional and local authorities, social forces and civil society”, to pull together to revive the Lisbon process. The mainstays of the renewed commitment of the Twenty-Five, which in some cases may seem like a “pipe dream”, concern “knowledge and innovation, as motors of lasting growth”, the creation “of an area favourable for investing and working”, and “growth and employment at the service of social cohesion”. DirECTIVE FOR SERVICES SECTOR TO BE REWRITTEN. “Yes to the liberalization of services, no to social dumping”. With these words President Junker explained the agreement reached during the summit of the Twenty-Five on the so-called “Bolkestein Directive”, linked to the Lisbon Strategy, and aimed at the liberalization of the services sector. The text drafted by the Commission is fiercely opposed by France, worried by competition from Eastern Europe. French President Jacques Chirac had even prospected the risk of a failure of the referendum on the Constitution, scheduled to be held in France on 29 May, if this provision were to be approved in its first version. Junker, in his closing remarks at the summit, explained that “the text of the Directive will be amended and account taken of the dual imperative of the opening up of the services market”, to permit competition, and “respect for the European social model”. On this issue the President of the Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso, added that “there was a discussion in Council that revealed different positions. Everyone is favourable to an improvement of the services sector”, which represents the larger part of national GDPs, “but there are those who would like a rapid liberalization and those who would prefer to proceed more gradually. France maintained its position, other countries had different ideas; we now need to reach an agreement that may satisfy everyone”. “THE EU ALSO WORKS WITH 25 STATES”. For his part, the President of the Commission said he was very satisfied by the overall results achieved at the summit, confirming that “the EU may work with 25 members also on sensitive issues such as those discussed” in recent days. The Portuguese President said that, now that agreement had been reached on the Stability Pact and the re-launch of the Lisbon process, “Europe must concentrate on the next great objective that awaits it, i.e. the negotiation of the economic and financial prospects for the period 2007-2013”. The summit further established that “the assessments on Croatia’s cooperation with the Tribunal in The Hague”, as a condition for the start of membership negotiations, “will be delegated to a task force”, especially set up for this purpose. Other questions touched on during the summit: the situation of Lebanon, the ratification of the Constitution – with particular attention to the referendum due to be held in France at the end of May -, and the problem of climate change.