The Lisbon Strategy "remains the effective framework for fostering sustainable growth and jobs," EU leaders concluded last Friday (20 March).
Indeed, "the crisis underlines the need to pursue and accelerate structural reforms" implemented under the Commission's Lisbon agenda, according to the summit conclusions.
However, leaders postponed serious discussions over the strategy's future until the new Commission takes office. "The European Council looks forward to the proposals on the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy that the Commission will present during the second half of this year," read the conclusions.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde launched talks on the strategy's revision during a meeting with Commission President José Manuel Barroso on 5 December 2008, a few days before the end of the French EU Presidency. But no official priorities were defined then, according to sources within the ministry. "We were only at the early phase of reflection," the source told EurActiv France.
"The Lisbon Strategy remains a relevant tool" in times of crisis, according to Lagarde's cabinet. Debate on the dossier in 2010 should focus on "what can be done to resume growth at the end of the crisis," the source added.
In fact, some even suggest that the strategy may have lost relevance in the current financial and economic context. Lisbon's revision is "no longer a priority," said a source at the French Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, suggesting that there were more urgent issues to address in the current economic downturn. "The guidelines of the current Lisbon strategy shouldn't change," the diplomat added.
Thus far, the Commission has refuted all suggestions that the strategy has become outdated or irrelevant as a result of the crisis. Mark English, a spokesperson for the EU executive, told EurActiv France that the Lisbon Strategy had become "even more necessary" during the current crisis period. According to him, the European stimulus plan "fully belongs to the Lisbon Strategy" and is essentially an adaptation in the short term of the Commission's flagship policy.
The Lisbon Strategy was launched in March 2000 and updated in 2005. EU heads of state and government agreed on an ambitious goal: making the EU "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".
A debate on the renewal of the Lisbon Strategy will be organised on 22 April by the Czech Presidency, but no agenda has been tabled yet.
A final decision on the strategy's revision will be taken during the spring summit of 2010, under the Spanish Presidency.
