Luxembourg Presidency: “Lisbon is more than just competitiveness”

Presenting its priorities for the first six months of 2005, the
upcoming Luxembourg EU Presidency has promised to focus on the
three dimensions of the Lisbon reform strategy. It will also try to
finalise a deal on the EU budget 2007-2013 by the end of its term
in office.

Foreign minister Jean Asselborn presented the usual catalogue of
policy issues to be dealt with during Luxembourg’s Presidency (from
1 January 2005) to the Brussels press on 21 December
2004. 

Mr Asselborn explicitly underlined that for his country’s
presidency the Lisbon reforms agenda is about more than just
competitiveness. The final objective of the Lisbon agenda is the
sustainable well-being of the EU’s citizens. Therefore, the
Luxembourg Presidency will focus on all three dimension of the
Lisbon strategy: competitiveness and economic growth, social
cohesion and sustainable development. 

The 2005 mid-term review of the EU’s Lisbon agenda is
likely to lead to a debate on the equality of these three
dimensions. Several EU and industry leaders have recently expressed
their conviction that economic growth and competitiveness are the
prerequisites for social inclusion and environmental protection.
Others see more synergies and opportunities between the
three dimensions. The best expression of this last position came in
the form of a slogan presented by the Dutch government during an
informal environment council held in Maastricht in the summer:
“clean, clever, competitive”.

On the financial perspective 2007-2013, the Luxembourg
Presidency promised to do its utmost to find an agreement by the
end of June. This debate on the EU’s future budget will become one
of the most hard-fought battles to be foreseen for 2005. To reach a
compromise which can satisfy the current ‘net payers’ to the EU
budget, who want to pay less, the new member states who want more
solidarity (read more money), the old EU-15 net ‘receivers’, who do
not want to lose their cohesion funds, and the UK, which is not
ready to discuss its Thatcher ‘money-back’ rebate, will be a
Herculean task for the Luxembourg Presidency. The task will even be
more difficult if the coming UK elections would take place as late
as May 2005.

Read more with Euractiv

Spanish voters undecided over EU Constitution

Almost sixty per cent of Spaniards asked in a recent opinion poll said they did not know whether to vote in favour or against the EU Constitution.