Brussels, 17/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the EU's finance ministers will take note of the Economic Policy Committee (EPC)'s annual report on structural reforms for 2005, highlighting progress over the past twelve months but echoing the Kok Report on the mid-term review of the Lisbon Process (see Europe of 28 October 2004) that there is urgent need for reforms to actually be implemented. Based on the EPC report, in preparation for the Spring European Council on 22/23 March, the EU's finance ministers will adopt conclusions highlighting the need to take action to boost employment and growth to cope with the ageing population. They will prepare for the European Council's negotiations over more detailed economic issues at the ECOFIN Council on 8 March.
In its report, the EPC identifies seven priorities for re-focussing the Lisbon Strategy to promote growth and employment, namely: 1) achieving an information society and boosting innovation by facilitating private research investment and improving the use of IT, while reforming educational systems to increase student, teacher and researcher mobility; 2) continuing work on the common market by integrating services and the financial markets, an effective competition policy, restricting state aid, implementing energy market liberalisation directives, improving transposition of directives by the Member States and increasing mobilisation by mutual recognition of qualifications and the transferability of welfare rights; 3) creating an adequate climate for enterprise by cutting admin costs, establishing one-stop shops to provide information to companies and improving access to start-up and expansion funding for innovation; 4) creating a labour market with more jobs and social cohesion based on the three guidelines unveiled by last March's ECOFIN Council for increasing labour flexibility (see Europe of 10 March 2004) by cutting the differences between regions (particularly in terms of pay) and cooperation between employers and trade unions; 5) taking action to respect the environment in the future through research and synergies between environmental protection and growth; 6) ensuring sustainable public finance by increasing the percentage of people in work, cutting public debt and reforming health and pension systems, ensuring all Member States provide correct budget data, establishing more effective pubic services and better coordination between the various levels of government; and 7) opening up to the rest of the world by encouraging direct foreign investment into the EU.
In a separate section, the EPC report looks at progress to date by each Member States in terms of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines in 2004 and identifying areas where further work is required. The report can be downloaded from the EPC's website http: //europa.eiu.int/Commission/ economy_finance/epc/epc_en.htm