Brussels, 07/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - "How do we get Europe into action?" This is a question that EU ministers for competitiveness attempted to answer on 1-3 July when meeting up for the informal Council in Maastricht on the theme of "Fostering excellence: Challenges for Productivity Growth in Europe" (EUROPE 30 June p 9). Although the European Commission announced on Friday that economic growth would be higher than forecasts, the Dutch minister of the economy, Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst and the education minister Maria van der Hoeven, who chaired the meeting, deplored the fact that Europe lagged behind the USA, China and India. To reverse the situation, they said that it would be necessary to highlight the areas of knowledge and innovation, asking that European leaders had to "change their attitudes to resolve economic problems. Brinkhorst indicated that despite the delays, the Lisbon Agenda had not become "outdated".
In order to highlight the areas of knowledge and innovation, Europe has to create an excellent investment climate for innovative companies, underlined the presidency after the Council. In order to achieve this, we first need simpler rules and procedures, especially for small and medium sized enterprises". He also added that the Council had also agreed to increased co-operation between universities, technical colleges and knowledge intensive companies. "We want more funds for research and innovation. There is consensus on the importance of the European Technology Platforms, in which private companies work together with universities, polytechnics and government agencies. We want a limited number of platforms for precisely those areas I which Europe is successful, such as nanotechnology and wind power".
The Dutch minister for the economy also declared that although the EU had fallen behind the USA somewhat since the European Council of Lisbon, the objective to make Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world was not "outdated". Nevertheless, he added that, "We now really have to work on implementing what was agreed". In this respect, the Dutch presidency intends to focus on implementing structural reform measures that have been agreed, such as the simplification of regulations and the reduction in corporate administrative costs.
Finally, Brinkhorst added that in order to solve economic problems a change in attitude was needed, "People live far longer today after their retirement than in the past. We also face competition from more places than the US alone. We have a major crisis in Europe, but we are not aware of the urgency of the problems. It's as if we have fallen from the fifth floor of a block of flats, and halfway down, are still not concerned about what is happening to us. We all know the purpose of Europe, but we do too little of what wee say. The Dutch presidency has to change that in the coming six months".