Strasbourg, 16/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 November, the European Parliament adopted a resolution (which will be published in our EUROPE/Documents series) on globalisation and the future of the Lisbon Strategy. The Commission will bring forward its proposals in December, and, in March 2008, the European Council will draw up guidelines for the next cycle of the strategy (2008-2011). In the resolution, MEPs said that “globalisation of the economy creates new opportunities for the EU”. As “one of the major beneficiaries of the open world economy”, the EU should put in place common external economic policy instruments, because, MEPs said, the Lisbon objectives can only be achieved by “being active and united on the global stage”. The EP called for the Strategy to be given a “coherent external dimension”. MEPs also backed the independence of the ECB on monetary policy and managing the volatility of world financial markets.
The EP also highlighted the need to strengthen the social dimension in the next cycle of the Lisbon Strategy and more especially in the integrated guidelines. It also felt that urgent steps were required to remedy the weaknesses in the guidelines on employment, which fail to take account of some fundamental social objectives, such as reducing the number of low-paid workers and increasing access to quality jobs, education, health care and other forms of social protection for all. MEPs called on the Commission to take action on the differences in implementing the employment guidelines in the various member states. They backed the adoption of common principles on flexicurity (flexibility and security for workers and employers on the labour market). The EP also said that the Lisbon Strategy objectives would not be fully realised without a genuine common energy policy. (H.B.)