President Barroso's Speech on 'The Lisbon Commission' at the UNICE Competitiveness Day

Summary: December 9, 2004: Speech by José Manuel BARROSO, President of the European Commission, on "The Lisbon Commission" at the UNICE Competitiveness Day (Brussels)

Thanks to Mr. Stube, President of UNICE, for organising this event.

You have signalled during your discussions today the importance of a competitive and reforming Europe. This is a need I recognise. Your concerns are ones that this Commission shares.
Together, we must put reform back at the top of the political agenda. Not only at the European level, but in each of our twenty five Member States.
Lisbon is a top priority for my Commission.
But if we really want to « play to win », we must build fresh political momentum; we must recapture the public imagination.
We can do this, if we show that Europe is delivering growth and jobs.
We must honour European excellence where it exists.
We must be critical where European politicians drag their feet and fail to deliver.
But the Commission cannot do this alone. We need a partnership - the partnership for prosperity, solidarity and security that I announced in July to the European Parliament.
This is why your organisations, as the representative voice, of business and industry across the Union - and business itself - have a crucial role to play.
UNICE and your member associations have already shown your support for reform. This event shows that you are determined to turn up the volume.

Let me explain why Lisbon must be a central priority

Mr. President, many voices today have identified the scale of the challenge.
We need urgently to boost the performance of the EU economy.
We must build on a sound economic foundations and on structural reforms that can open markets and deliver stronger productivity growth, lift R&D, foster innovation and investment (in networks, in people and ideas), raise employment, reduce regional inequality, lower poverty and curb environmental damage.
It is this combination of action that can make an enlarged internal market more efficient. Stronger growth and more jobs will also allow us to tackle better poverty and exclusion, while providing the room needed to modernise welfare systems.
But, today, in the face of global competition, we find ourselves sprinting after the US, with our head turned over our shoulder to see who is coming up behind.

That is no way to win a race!
But then, as you suggest, this is not just about winners and losers.
A more competitive Europe will help improve the performance of our trading partners. It is competitive forces that create real and lasting European winners in an open, global trading environment.

There is much that remains to be done, for example:
Untapped potential in the internal market (making a reality of enlargement, deal with poor transposition of key reforms and lack of a Community Patent).
Shaping a better business environment. There is political will to tackle over-regulation ; but now, as you say, words must be transformed into action.
Strict application of competition rules in open markets: and if European champions emerge - all the better, but we should not be in the business of trying to pick out which companies will succeed.
Let me also make one thing clear, the Lisbon strategy is not only a business agenda.
It is an agenda for Europe; an agenda for citizens. It offers a roadmap for updating Europe's unique model, based on economic dynamism and social justice.
Lisbon tackles issues that matter to people:
it is about a healthy, growing economy and about rewarding jobs ;
it is about showing that co-ordinated action at European, national and local levels can spread prosperity and opportunity, and
it is about starting today to meet tomorrow's challenges such as climate change or our ageing population: challenges whose impact is already felt in changing weather patterns, or in shrinking labour markets and rising health and pension spending.

The Kok Report / Mid-Term Review allows us to relaunch Lisbon

The mid-Term Review of the Lisbon Strategy has been launched by the Report of former Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Kok. Excellent basis for our work.
This is the right moment - as you highlight - with a new Commission and a new European Parliament to reignite the Lisbon vision.
And if I was - as you have suggested Mr President - the CEO of "Europe limited", then I freely admit that I expect a difficult "board meeting" at the March European Council.
I will be passing your message of today that our shareholders (the businesses and citizens of Europe) are worried!
In March we must therefore deliver - as you suggest - a "turnaround plan" against which all Board Members are ready to be judged by both their national and European electorates.
The Kok Report provides the right diagnosis.
The starting point for change is the culture of stability that has been established in the Union. We will not put that at risk. Pending structural reforms will make our economies more efficient and help to strengthen both competitive pressures and consumer choice.
Future reform of the Stability and Growth Pact will not undermine our hard-won stability. More economic reasoning will be added to the emphasis on fiscal rules, but ensuring fiscal discipline will remain a must.
And if this makes reform a political priority, this is because a dynamic and innovative economy is the best way to shape a new European model, based on social justice, economic dynamism and sustained improvements in our quality of life.
We can achieve all this without rewriting the basic contract that binds our society together.
I take three messages from the Kok Report:

1) A real sense of urgency. We must act now!
2) the need to set priorities within the broad Lisbon agenda, and
3) the need to spread ownership to make reform happen.

While the basic Lisbon approach remains valid, let me make just four comments about the upcoming review:
First, Lisbon provides a European response to the challenges our continent faces (we do not need to import the American model, nor pursue a savage deregulation in order to compete with China or India). It is able to do this at least in part because of the economic stability achieved over the last decade.
Second, we must not underestimate the "growth, jobs and investment dividend" that is still to feed through from existing Lisbon reforms (e.g. telecoms, energy, public procurement); but this depends on them actually being delivered on the ground.
But past and future reforms must increasingly be backed by the right level of investment at European and national level.
Third, five years after its launch, a renewed Lisbon strategy should give priority to growth and jobs. The economy must be our motor to keep the broader Lisbon agenda within reach.

This renewed focus should be driven by:

- a more dynamic and innovative market place;
- improved access to the labour market;
- a greater focus on skills and training;

All of these are also elements that can deliver a fairer, more inclusive society.

Finally, Lisbon needs us to recognise the importance of "knowledge-intensive policies" by building stronger links between education, research and industry, or between our environmental goals and the clean technologies.

Equally important that we get the right conditions for research and innovation: we must open new markets (e.g. biotechnologies), and attract the best brains to spend part of their careers in Europe.

The mid-term Review is the moment to roll up our sleeves and move ahead.

So what do I expect business to deliver?

Let me return to the idea of partnership.
There is general willingness to make Lisbon a top priority among the other Members of the European Council, my Commissioners, the Parliament and, I believe, among business leaders.
But let us also be honest. Lisbon has not struggled up to now, because of a lack of good ideas; it has suffered of a lack of political will.
We need a much stronger commitment to change. Lisbon must become part and parcel of the national political agenda. Business needs to become an even louder advocate for change.
UNICE and other associations have played this role effectively at the European level, but now you are right to step up a gear by putting the spotlight on Member States.
welcome your announcement (by Mr Cordero di Montezemolo, President of Confindustria) to campaign for national Lisbon Action Plans/a key idea of the Kok Report).
This will allow the debate to be pursued in a language tailored to the national situations and markets that your businesses face. Lisbon is about change across the Union, but it does not mean there is a "one size fits all" solution.
Individual business leaders, many represented here today, have an equally important role as "ambassadors for Lisbon".
I ask you to help to cut through short-sighted sectoral or national interests and fight for the bigger picture - a dynamic and competitive continent that is in every business' interest.
But let also me be clear: you have a double responsibility. Yes, be critical when Europe, the Member States or our Parliament do not deliver or get it wrong, but you must also give more praise when Lisbon reforms are going in the right direction.

This is an area, where frankly the voice of UNICE and of business has not yet been loud enough.
And if you do not speak up for the positive side of Lisbon, the only message ever heard will be of missed deadlines and broken targets.

I will be an active partner. From our side, this means at both European and national level, public administrations must do more:
Listen to the needs of both large and small businesses, particularly by consulting on all key proposals;
Assess the overall economic, social and environmental impact of our proposals, so that our legislation fits your needs and helps rather than hinders competitiveness;
Roll back or repeal legislation which has served its purpose, and make real progress on our ambitious programme to simplify existing rules.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen

This morning the College had its first orientation debate on its proposed set of strategic priorities for the Union over the next five years.
This will lead to firm proposals early next year, but let me say one thing: I believe it is with great foresight that you gave a title to this presentation. I am convinced that our Commission will place a premium on growth and jobs, that we will, in your words, be truly the "Lisbon Commission".
We must therefore all have the courage to pursue the reforms that our continent needs.
We need to turn our back on the economic and social decline that go with maintaining the status quo.
This is not an easy process.
We must make up for lost time, but I believe that with your support there is much we can do.
I am ready to be judged by our results five years from now; I ask you now to do the same.

Thank you.

Ref: SP04-300EN
EU source: European Commission
UN forum:
Date: 9/12/2004

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