The conference, hosted by pro-integration lobby European Movement International, took place as Commission President José Manuel Barroso launched his strategy, which the Portuguese has made the cornerstone of his second term at the EU executive's helm.
Participants, however, cautioned that a long-term strategy working towards a bright new tomorrow would hold no value if it failed to address the many problems facing Europe's economy and citizens today.
Maria Joao Rodrigues, a key force behind Europe 2020's predecessor, the Lisbon Strategy, argued that the latter did not succeed because there was a lack of suitable political instruments, a lack of financial means, and – most importantly – a lack of political will from EU member states to achieve its goals.
For the new plan to succeed where Lisbon failed, the one thing it must have above other things is credibility, she argued, particularly at a time of mass unemployment and economic uncertainty.
Other experts felt this credibility would prove unachievable, because new strategy outlines a series of lofty ambitions but fails to address the social, economic, financial and jobs crises currently crippling European growth.
John Monks, secretary-general of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), declared himself an 'EU 2020 sceptic' and argued that the new strategy risked being "Lisbon as usual" – a repeat of its poorly-performing predecessor.
He feared that the long-termism of this new vision ignores the need for concrete, speedy solutions to the current problems facing Europe. "I think it's a rush to judgement by a new Commission that feels naked without a 10-year strategy," he argued.
Philippe De Buck, director-general of BusinessEurope, the EU employers' lobby, called for the Commission to be held accountable for the success or failure of the new strategy. Governance was the key to making it work, he said, adding that the Commission should not be focusing beyond the terms of its own five-year mandate, which ends in 2014.
Instead of waiting until 2020, he called for a rigorous mid-term assessment in 2014 which would judge whether the current Commission had done enough.
“The Lisbon Strategy failed because the first five-year Commission mandate during that 10-year period did nothing," he claimed.
Pat Cox, president of European Movement International, argued that the EU needs to "raise its game" by adopting bold measures to address both current and long-term problems. If this does not happen, Europe faces a "zombie decade" of economic stagnation similar to that of Japan in the 1990s, he claimed.
