Mixed reactions to Kok report among European stakeholders

European employers' association UNICE
agrees with the basic findings of the Kok report, saying that the
current situation of the EU's competitiveness was unsatisfactory.
Moreover, it supports the report's calls on member states to draw
up national action plans and to make governments accountable for
their implementation. However, UNICE said the report lacked
specific suggestions about to how to breathe fresh life into the
Lisbon strategy. "The report does not include clear recommendations
for what governments should do to make Europe more competitive,"
complains the organisation.

Eurochambres,  the association of European
chambers of commerce and industry, has welcomed the report,
saying that it addressed the key points such as lack of national
ownership, the shortcomings of the open method of co-ordination and
the need to better communicate the Lisbon strategy to the citizens.
However, Eurochambres criticises that the report is not clear on
how economic, social and environmental welfare are linked.
"Currently, the strategy is imbalanced towards the social and
environmental pillars. We must rebalance and make the economy the
top priority for the years to come," it said.

The European Trade Union Confederation
(ETUC) points to several shortcomings in the Kok report,
criticising that it focused merely on two aspects of the Lisbon
strategy, namely employment and growth. In ETUC's view, equal
weight should be given to social cohesion and sustainable
development. "Lisbon is about strengthening social cohesion and
sustainability [...]. Lisbon is definitely not about scaring
European workers and citizens with a narrow agenda of pure
deregulation and cutbacks in their living and social standards
being decided over their heads," said John Monks, Secretary General
of ETUC.

The EPP group in the European
Parliament blames national governments for their inability to push
through the Lisbon aims. "An improvement of the framework for
business often fails due to national egoisms," said MEP Alexander
Radwan. "It is no wonder that the EU is unable to improve its
competitiveness." For the EPP, the report of the Kok expert group
can be seen as a "declaration of bankruptcy".

The Socialists  in the EP underlined
the need to maintain the balance of the Lisbon agenda and warned
about the risk of using it to undermine social
priorities. "The Kok report's lack of precision [...] creates
a risk that it will be misinterpreted and misused to undermine the
EU's broad economic, social and environmental agenda," said the
groups leaders in a statement. "This is regrettable since the
report itself ringingly endorses that agenda."

The high level expert group chaired by former Dutch prime
minister Wim Kok presented its review of the Lisbon strategy to the
European Commission on 3 November 2004. The report paints a gloomy
picture of the state of the EU's economy and analyses the reasons
behind a lack of progress on the Lisbon agenda (see   EURACTIV 3 November 2004). 

While generally agreeing with this analysis, stakeholders have
criticised the lack of specific remedies suggested by the report.
Moreover, there seems to be considerable disagreement as to the
stance that the report takes on the fundamental balance
between economic, social and environmental welfare.

The EU heads of state and government will have a first look at
the Kok report during their European Council meeting on 4-5
November 2004.

The report will then serve the European Spring Council in March
2005 as a basis for its mid-term review of the Lisbon
strategy.

EU official documents

• Kommission/Hochrangige
  Sachverständigengruppe unter Vorsitz von Wim
  Kok:Die Herausforderungen annehmen - Die
  Lissabon-Strategie für Wachstum und
  Beschäftigung(November 2004)
• Kommission,
  Pressemitteilung:Kok report calls for more determined
  political action to revitalise Lisbon
  strategy(3 November 2004) [FR] [FR] [DE]
• Kommission:Die Lissabon-Strategie

EU Actors positions

• EGB:Social Europe as a driving force for
  economic growth: ETUC supports the Kok
  report,, but regrets that social cohesion and
  sustainable development are neglected(3 November 2004)
• EVP-Fraktion im EP:Kok-Bericht: Ernüchternde
  Halbzeitbilanz beim Lissabon-Prozess(3. November 2004)
• SPE-Fraktion im EP:Socialists renew campaign for jobs in
  Europe(3 November 2004)
• CEEP:CEEP gives a mixed welcome to Kok
  II(3 November 2004)
• The Lisbon Council:‘A Victory for Bureaucratic
  Interests’(3 November 2004)
• EUROCHAMBRES:EUROCHAMBRES welcomes report and
  demands Member States act to avoid
  "Lisbon tragedy"(3 November 2004)
• UNICE:Kok report: Good analysis but not enough
  concrete proposals to dynamise Europe(3 November 2004)

Time-saving Overviews

• LinksDossier:Lisbon agenda