By Anna McLauchlin - 21st January 2004
Brussels has warned the EU is not meeting its target to be "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010".
In a report on the EU’s ‘Lisbon Agenda’ published on Wednesday, the European Commission says governments' failure to implement the agenda strategy is resulting in reduced growth, poor employment rates and an increasing gap between the EU and the US in investment in R&D and education.
Commission president Romano Prodi said on Tuesday that around 40 per cent of Lisbon-agreed directives have not yet been implemented.
And the report highlights a lack of "political will" by member states to implement existing legislation on opening up the internal market or work towards new laws to strengthen European competitivity.
While progress has been made on pension reform, the commission notes that half of member states do not yet have sustainable public finances.
Europe's founders France, Germany are the worst offenders both on managing their finances and on failing to implement the Lisbon reforms.
Prodi stressed, "Member states do not seem to realise that 2010 is around the corner. Four years after Lisbon it is clear that we are going to miss our mid-term targets".
"For 2004 we set three priorities: more investment in networks and knowledge, the reinforcement of industrial competitiveness and more measures to increase labour market participation."
More specifically, the commission asks governments to concentrate on pushing through the Initiative for Growth, which will boost investment in European research and development, technology and infrastructure.
Brussels calls for the rapid approval of the recently adopted directive on the services market, which aims to make it easier for companies to offer services throughout the EU, and the Environmental Technologies Action Plan to use environmental technology for sustainable development.
And member states must scrap financial incentives for early retirement to boost Europe's ageing workforce and make their healthcare systems more efficient, the report says.
EU leaders agreed in 2000 in Lisbon that new competitiveness measures would see Europe become the world's leading economy by 2010 and are due to take stock of their progress in 2005.
The communication published on Wednesday is accompanied by three reports showing how Europe fares in implementing the Lisbon economic, employment and internal market guidelines.
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