Brussels, 21/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a meeting on 19 January with the President of the ECOFIN Council and Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European employers' organisation UNICE, Jurgen Strube, urged the Luxembourg Presidency to endeavour to put the Lisbon Strategy back on track at the Spring Summit 2005 and looked to the launch of a 'new ambitious transatlantic initiative' at the June Transatlantic Summit to 'reinvigorate, deepen and broaden the Transatlantic partnership'. Strube said: 'The mid-term review (of the Lisbon Process) is the last chance to make the Lisbon Strategy deliver. The Spring Summit must set more concrete policy priorities than the Win Kok Report was able to do, and decide on a number of dossiers to be completed by 2010.'
After outlining UNICE's expectations in various areas, Jurgen Strube turned to the Stability and Growth Pact, sharing Juncker's strong opposition to excluding certain expenditure categories from the calculation of public deficits. UNICE believes the creation of a strong services sector in Europe I essential for Europe's ability to create growth and employment. The Council and European Parliament should agree on legislation to remove obstacles to the free movement of services by the end of 2005. Strube said the top priority of the Commission's 'new social agenda should be to promote the creation of new jobs and integrate more people into labour markets rather than seeking to protect activities of the past or enhancing the rights of those already at work.' The REACH chemicals package is excessively unwieldy, said Strube, expressing great concern about the economic impact of some environmental legislation which has to be fundamentally changed. UNICE argues that trade and investment liberalisation is key for European business competitiveness. UNICE is counting on 'the Luxembourg Presidency to push for significant progress in all the different areas of negotiations in parallel, in view of the December Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference.'