Brussels, 28/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 January, the European Commission adopted its assessment of the progress made by the member states in implementing the Lisbon strategy. It also specifies for each country, where necessary, the most important reforms to carry out (this does not concern Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden). The publication of these specific country chapters in the middle of an economic and financial crisis reminds the governments of the need to make sure that the efforts they are currently making form part of a longer-term perspective.
Although, as José Manuel Barroso points out, measures for budgetary upturn are of vital importance in fighting the crisis, "we still need a comprehensive medium-term fitness plan and the Lisbon strategy provides that". The president of the Commission went on to state that "we face difficult times and will not emerge from them overnight", but we must stick to our course. "The member states must agree and implement the much-needed structural reforms set out in today's recommendations", he added. The recommendations, limited to four for the countries with the most to do, are just as targeted as in the past. They are to be approved by the Spring European Council before they can be adopted as a package by the Council of Ministers. It is also worth noting that the specific recommendations are also addressed to the eurozone as an entity. They call on the 16 countries which share a single currency, amongst other things, to ensure the sustainability of their public finances to implement the common principles of flexicurity. They must also make efforts to reinforce the coordination of their policies within the Eurogroup, follow developments in competitiveness and fully apply all existing agreements regarding the external representation of the eurozone.
The Commission has also adopted reports on the overall implementation of the Lisbon strategy in the macro- and micro-economic policies and in the fields of employment, which clearly show the impact of the crisis on the real economy. Together with the other elements of the Lisbon package already adopted in November (EUROPE 9805), these documents are available on the internet (http://www.ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_fr.htm ). (A.B./transl.fl)