Brussels, 01/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - At a seminar organised in Brussels on 23 February by the European Policy Centre (EPC) on "Employment and Social Policy - from Lisbon to Stockholm", Anna Ekstrom, Swedish Minister for Industry, said that the Stockholm Summit would be "interactive", as it would combine all the components of the Lisbon Strategy (employment, economic reform, research, innovation and social cohesion), and also because it would be the first annual follow-up summit to Lisbon. Recalling the priorities of the Swedish Presidency, Anna Ekstrom notably placed emphasis on account being taken of the ageing of the population, developments in the quality of work, maintaining older workers in employment, reconciliation between family and professional life (to increase women's participation in the labour market), knowledge in matters of information and communications technologies, etc.
At a panel on "New jobs for Europe: the Lisbon goals one year on", with, notably the former Belgian employment minister Miet Smet and Italian Tiziano Treu, all the participants stressed the importance of achieving the goal set in Lisbon of full employment in 2010, the possibility of lifelong learning, greater partnership between industry and the world of education.