EU must revive the ambitions of the Lisbon Agenda
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EU must revive the ambitions of the Lisbon Agenda
Wed, 03/12/2008 - 16:57
In addition to the current global economic recession the EU faces significant competition and challenges from the so called BRIC countries going forward ( Brazil,Russia, India and China) in terms of trade and social development .
In order to compete the EU must take action to revive the ambitions of the Lisbon Agenda " to become the most competitive knowledge based economy in the world " It must do this through more investment in science and innovation and greater use of technology.This requires more focussed efforts in research ,training and entrepreneurship.
The EU must also enhance it's competitiveness by promoting more upskilling and enhanced human capital, through actively embedding a committment to lifelong learning. It is critical also to incentivise SME's to encourage more investment in R & D , with as much emphasis on innovation as on research through closer collaboration between business and academia.
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I agree that we have to focus on creating new and better jobs if younger Europeans can look forward to a future in this era of globalisation.
i agree...but why don't european governments make this clear to their citizents, that without being competitive, the future will look bleak....many see any changes as a threat..even the Lisbon treaty... The hysteria that took over people, over some of the issues ,and the missinformation that was spread by the NO campain, triggered fear to the hearts of the ordinary citizents for issues that were not even mentioned to that extend in the treaty....european governments, all of them not just in ireland (remember it was not just ireland who rejected the treaty,but france and holland before it rejected the constitution) need to inform better their citizents about EU, how it works, what it does, who are the people that wor for it,what are the benefits of EU membership,what are the obligations, what do they gain as citizents of EU, not just when there is a referendum to be put to them, but reguraly, in the press, the television, the schools...why don't governments do so...??
The Lisbon Agenda was framed in a very different era and, while it expressed laudable objectives, it is difficult to attribute much success to its implementation.
The basic aim is still valid: to become the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world.
There are two basic strategies:
- more investment in science and innovation with greater use of technology, and secondly
- more focussed efforts in research, training and entrepreneurship.
In Ireland, the Government did make serious efforts to implement these strategies and we made progress in research and entrepreneurship but from a very low base. However, the boom in construction/ financial services seemed to divert our energies and our education system was not producing the level of science and technology skills required for a first rate economy (the less said about our national training authority the better).
We now face a massive fiscal crisis. Investment in R&D and in education over the next five years will be constained. We need to do more with a lot less. Is the EU in a position to assist us financially through the Framework Programmes and other training schemes? Will European Social Fund money be maintained or even expanded to reflect our burgeoning unemployment problem?
Ultimately, the collapse of the construction and property boom could prove salutary because it was an unsustainable form of growth. The reality is we do not have the resources to spend our way out of this recesssion. However, if the world economy recovers quickly from the current recession, and particularly in our EU markets, there will be export opportunities and should act now to ensure we are better placed to avail of them.
Perhaps the Lisbon Agenda can be re-cast as a system to help countries prepare for a recovery by assisting their efforts to convert from property and financial services into export-orientated sectors?