Brussels, 02/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Bertelsmann Foundation is organising for 6 May in Brussels, at the Permanent Representation of the North Rhine-Westphalia, a symposium on the theme: "National and Supranational Benchmarking - Irreconcilable Conflict or Copious Collaboration?". The Foundation, which is one of the main German think-tanks, published a report on "Benchmarking Germany" in September 2001, at the request of the German Alliance for Jobs.
During the symposium, Professor Wolfgang Streeck, from the Max Planck Institute, will present the main results and the political impact of the "Benchmarking Germany" initiative; Peter Weiss from the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission will assess the results obtained by Germany in the context of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines for 2002; and MEP Udo Bullmann will present the European Parliament's position on the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, the Lisbon Strategy and "benchmarking". (Fax.: 00 49 5241/81 81 982. e-mail: susanne.muestermann@bertelsmann.de)