ECONOMIC POLICY: BARROSO CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ON RE-LAUNCH OF LISBON STRATEGY.

Mr Barroso spoke after the Commissioners had approved a Communication that will be addressed to the heads of state and government in preparation for the March summit. The document, finally entitled "New partnership for growth and employment: Time to move up a gear", is divided into three sections: a text covering general matters, including four recommendations, a text analysing the twenty-five National Reform Programmes and the annex (see Europe Information 3024).

Commenting on this Communication, Mr Barroso was relatively cautious as to the anticipated results in terms of competitiveness and employment, recognising indirectly that one year after its first review, the Lisbon Strategy was a long way off bearing all its fruit "despite the efforts of the member states". On a more ambitious note, Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen referred to a study that was published in the Netherlands recently predicting 10% more employment in ten years and 20% more revenue, provided of course that everyone plays their part.

A good 80% of the Lisbon Strategy implementing measures do of course depend on the will of the member states, which is exactly the reason that numerous groups are already starting to worry whether the individual national reform plans will be effective (see the Eurochambres opinion in Europe Information 3024). As regards these NRPs, which are required to act as starting blocks for the implementation of the European competitiveness and employment targets, Mr Barroso refused...