Brussels, 14/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - In order to strengthen the scope and impact of the strategy for growth, competitiveness and employment established at the Lisbon Summit, the Portuguese Council Presidency is organising, for Thursday 15 June, from 10h to 18h in Brussels, a very High Level Forum involving the representatives of the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee (ESC), the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the European Central Bank (ESB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European social partners (ETUC for trade unions, UNICE/UEAPME for the employers and CEEP for public enterprise). The European Commission will be represented by Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou and by Giovanni Ravasio, Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs.
The Portuguese Prime Minister and European Council President Antonio Guterres and European Commission President Romano Prodi will introduce and close the work of this Forum, aimed to address two main issues:
1) Contributions from the different actors to Lisbon strategy: participants will tackle the transition to a knowledge society, structural reforms for competitiveness and innovation, modernisation of the system for social protection, macro-economic policy mix for sustainable growth and employment;
2) New dimensions of social dialogue and social concertation. The questions raised will seek to take stock of: a) the way to improve methods for contribution by the different European institutions to the Lisbon strategy; b) the role of macro-economic dialogue; c) methods defining new combinations between flexibility and security on the labour market; d) the role of social partners in the Luxembourg process; e) the promotion of life-long learning for a knowledge society without social exclusion.