González, who was Spanish prime minister from 1982 to 1996, decided to call a spade a spade and described the Union's flagship plan as a failed project.
Ironically, he was speaking at a public event organised by a think-tank named after the Lisbon Strategy: the Lisbon Council.
Speaking in Spanish and insisting that he was only outlining his personal views, González made a passionate appeal for a "new resetting of relations" and a "social pact for the 21st century".
The current world economic crisis should be grasped as an opportunity to move Europe on from the state of "sweet decadency" in which it has lived for years, Gonzalez argued.
"I think Europe would not have reacted to the challenges it is confronted with had the crisis not hit. Maybe this will be the chance to reassess and re-establish social relations, industrial relations, our education systems: a new analysis, ten years after Lisbon, and see why Lisbon failed," González said.
Wrong diagnosis
By the time the Lisbon Strategy was launched in March 2000, European leaders had made a "wrong diagnosis" of the Union's problems, the Spanish politician further argued. He referred to poor analysis of Europe's education systems and misguided comparisons of social security costs between the EU and the US, which led EU leaders to adopt a flawed strategy.
"Nobody thought of listing the top 20 US companies in 1980 and checking how many of them were in the same ranking in 2000, and doing the same comparison for Europe. The painful conclusion is that there is no mobility in Europe, upwards and downwards, in the world of business opportunities," he said.
'Corporate rigidity'
What's more, González insisted that EU societies tend to function with excessive corporate rigidity.
"Maybe we are paying for decades of post-WWII success. Corporate rigidity includes rigidity of trade unions and of political parties, left and right, which themselves do not allow the mobility, upwards and downwards, of industrial initiative," González said.
The chairman of the reflection group also observed that in the US, there is no such concept as "small and medium-sized enterprise". In the US, all enterprises start small, but in Europe, it is impossible to find the next Bill Gates hiding in someone's garage as the municipal council would probably prohibit that, he said amid laughter from the audience.
No details of how 'reflection group' will work
Some people in the room seemed disappointed that Gonzalez had analysed Europe's past mistakes, rather than revealing how the reflection group on the future of Europe would conduct its work.
The former Spanish PM mentioned how on the same day, the group had been holding its fourth session since its establishment five months ago.
Answering a question from EurActiv as to how the reflection group was planning to communicate, Gonzalez adopted a defensive stance, explaining that there were many limitations, including the group's small budget, which did not even cover interpretation expenses.
As for whether the group would "go public" (EurActiv 22/01/09), González would only say that at the moment members needed to discuss between themselves. He nevertheless admitted that a debate could take place after the summer.
