By Martin Banks - 4th March 2008
Commission president José Manuel Barroso insists that the EU remains "on track" to meet the goals of the much-criticised Lisbon strategy.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Barroso said that "despite the decade long defeatism of the cynics - Lisbon is working".
The strategy, launched in 2000 in Lisbon, Barroso`s home capital, famously aimed to make the EU the most "competitive and dynamic" economy in the world by the end of the decade.
Barroso, addressing a European audience of think tanks, said that a downturn in the global economy had led to calls for Europe to "pull up the drawbridge and turn us into a fortress Europe".
Dismissing such calls, Barroso added, "We face economic headwinds that a few years ago might have been strong enough to sink us.
"But today Europe is continuing to grow and to create jobs. Our employment rate at 66 per cent is our highest ever and our unemployment rate at 6.9 per cent is the lowest for 25 years."
He was speaking at the launch of the Lisbon council's 'European growth and jobs monitor.'
The annual 'scorecard' aims to measure the performance of the 14 largest European economies in implementing the Lisbon strategy.
He said the monitor adds to recent evidence that the modernisation of EU economies under the Lisbon strategy is helping Europe "to stay the course in turbulent times."
He added, "My message today is that we are on the right track and we must continue. We must show that the Lisbon strategy is every day providing real and tangible benefits for citizens and for businesses in an age of globalisation.
"The strategy can achieve much more in the 2008-10 cycle and that is why we want EU leaders at the upcoming Brussels summit to put skills at the top of the agenda and to help transform millions of lives by boosting efforts to tackle early school leaving and under-achievement."
According to the Lisbon council, Finland and Ireland were the top performers in the last year in terms of meeting the Lisbon objectives. Denmark, the Netherland and Sweden were bottom of the `league table`.
The UK was placed sixth, with Germany eighth and France 13 in the rankings.
The report says, "One point emerges clearly from our results - member states are doing better with respect to the Lisbon targets as measured by this survey than they were a year ago".
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