Brussels, 06/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - MEPs and national MPs, in Brussels on Monday for their third meeting on the Lisbon Strategy, called on EU governments to better coordinate their efforts to achieve the goals set out in Lisbon in March 2000. Opening the conference, EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP-ED, Germany) said the Lisbon Strategy was a good example of how important it was to have a stronger democratic component in EU decision making. “To meet the goal of becoming the world's most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010, we need to act on all levels: local, regional, national and European,” he said, adding that national parliaments had a crucial role, since the EU's involvement was often limited to coordination and recommendations. The Speaker of the German Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, who co-chaired the meeting, argued that not enough progress had been made so far. He quoted former Austrian Chancellor, who, when President of the Council, said that Europe was an orchestra that needed to be more than a gathering of soloists. Mr Lammert went on, “Regarding Lisbon, it is not unreasonable to say that we have only just agreed on the piece of music the orchestra is supposed to play, but we need many more rehearsals before it is ready to be played in public”. He also stressed that neither individual member states nor the EU institutions alone could meet the goals, there needed to be cooperation across the various levels. Among the key actions of the revised Lisbon Strategy, Mr Pöttering mentioned in particular the need to cut bureaucracy and red tape, which cost SMEs the equivalent of 3.5% of EU GDP annually. If such issues were to be tackled effectively, the substance of the proposed EU Constitution needed to be retained, he said, adding, “I understand why people sometimes criticise Brussels, but not the refusal to give us the means to do away with these shortcomings”.
The two rapporteurs involved in drafting the resolution on the Lisbon Strategy to be put to the EP plenary session prior to the Spring Council then outlined the main points of the draft version. Stephen Hughes (PES, United Kingdom) stressed that there was a need to ensure that social cohesion was given greater emphasis. He said there should be a proper balance between the flexibility needed by businesses and the security needed by workers. In the draft resolution, Mr Hughes proposes several measures to improve employment prospects, including a reduced tax burden on employment and training for the most vulnerable and least qualified unemployed workers. Alexander Lambsdorff (ALDE, Germany) focused on energy issues: in the draft resolution, he called for a series of timetables for action to increase the use of renewable energy - to reach 50% by 2040 - and improve energy efficiency - by 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Along with issues relating to human capital and innovation in the internal market, the energy policy was the major topic of the 3rd parliamentary meeting. (eh)