The push to breathe new live into the Lisbon agenda has taken on an almost self-flagellating tone. In an interview with Financial Times, the outgoing Commission President Romano Prodi, gives a scathing assessment of members states' efforts to make the EU the world's most competitive economy by 2010.
Less than two weeks before the EU summit that will debate the Wim Kok report (which takes stock of progress on the Lisbon agenda), Prodi said: "Lisbon is a big failure." He offered the explanation that member states have been sticking to stubbornly to the unanimity rule that allows for one country to veto proposals: "You can't have unanimity in all economic areas, or if you do, you must accept the failure of Lisbon," Prodi said.
Wim Kok, who has led the expert group reporting work, said that Europe's Lisbon agenda risks becoming "a synonym for missed objectives and failed promises". Kok added: "Progress to date has been inadequate largely due to lack of commitment and political will." The report proposes that the EU should concentrate on 14 simple indicators instead of currently around 100.
