Parliament set to improve co-ordination of Lisbon follow-up

The Parliament wants to present a strong and coherent
position on the Lisbon mid-term review. It has decided to
involve national parliaments in an ad hoc body to
co-ordinate the work on the Lisbon process.

The Conference of the European Parliament’s Presidents has
decided, on 16 November 2004, to establish a new temporary body on
the Lisbon Strategy. The body’s remit is to co-ordinate
parliamentary committees’ work to prepare and present a
strong and coherent position on the mid-term review of the
Lisbon Strategy. The review is due to be adopted by the Spring
Council in March 2005.

The interim body will prepare a recommendation for Parliament’s
resolution preceding the Spring Summit. It will also carry
out brain-storming on the future of the Lisbon process
together with national parliaments and set up a joint
programming exercise between the Commission, the Parliament and the
Council.

The 33 members of the body will be chosen by Parliament’s
political groups. The members are likely to include the
rapporteurs already in charge of Lisbon-related issues as well
as representatives of the committees already involved in the
Lisbon process (Economic and Monetary Affairs; Internal Market;
Employment; Industry, Research
and Energy; Environment). The body’s mandate
will run until the end of 2005.

Read more with Euractiv

Europe goes to the Moon

Europe's first mission to the Moon is about to start. The unmanned, solar energy driven SMART-1 spacecraft has entered the orbit around the Moon. It will collect a range of data, some of which will be used to study the Moon's origins.