The British said the Lisbon summit would create at least 20 million jobs in the next decade. The French contended that, if applied, the policies would generate growth of 3 per cent. The Portuguese Prime Minister and President of the Council of Ministers, Mr Antonio Guterres, insisted "the results of the Lisbon summit go well beyond our expectations" and represented "a revolution" in the way we work.
And each leader boasted that the consensus at the EU's dot.com summit represented a vindication of their own approach. Best practice is our practice.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said: "It is good to be able to offer the Irish experience as a model. For that reason, I am pleased to see so much of the principles and values that underpin our approach at home reflected in today's conclusions."
But the message was domestic as much as external. The targets set for liberalising telecommunications and services would put competitive pressure on Ireland, he said. "It is therefore vital that we adhere to the commitments agreed in the PPF [Programme for Prosperity and Fairness] if we are to maintain continued sustainable growth and increasing prosperity for everyone in the community."
He said he saw the measures being taken both in Ireland and now Europe "as strongly mutually reinforcing".
IBEC's European director, Mr Peter Brennan, warmly welcomed the conclusions of the summit, "the first time the business agenda has been fairly and squarely addressed by the EU".
By early lunchtime yesterday, the leaders had put their seal on a package whose shape had been clear on Thursday, endorsing a list of dozens of concrete targets for everything from lifelong learning, to Internet access, to a charter for small businesses. The summit set its goal as full employment and a 10-year drive to rival US competitiveness and make the EU the player on the world stage. As expected there was a fudge, courtesy of France, on targets for liberalisation of transport and energy. But French Prime Minister Mr Lionel Jospin, facing massive union pressure at home, told journalists later that, while there might be legal and cultural reasons why parts of the French public services would have to delay liberalisation or new technology, in the end "it must happen".
Mr Jospin also made clear that the French Presidency, which starts in July, would emphasise the social agenda and the final declaration insists that "steps must be taken to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by setting adequate targets to be agreed by the Council at the end of the year".
Commission officials were particularly delighted, however, with a summit promise to accelerate market access to local telecom loops, the so-called "last mile", by the end of the year, raising the possibility of significantly cheaper Internet access.
The Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, also told journalists that the Commission had been asked to produce a major report on the viability of Europe's pensions systems.
A strong declaration on the western Balkans endorsed a paper by Commissioner Mr Chris Patten and High Representative Mr Javier Solana, which argues for continued sanctions targeted at the Milosevic regime in Yugoslavia, balanced by assistance to the front-line states and the democratic opposition. But for the first time, the EU explicitly held out the carrot of eventual EU membership to a "democratic and co-operative Serbia, living at peace with its neighbours".
An aid programme for Montenegro was cleared, while leaders also promised to increase bilateral contributions to Kosovo ahead of next week's pledging conference. Ireland is to raise its contribution by between $7 million and $8 million to $15 million (€15.41 million) for the next two years.
The summit also saw a sustained attempt by the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to identify himself and the British government with the mainstream of European policy by arguing that Europe was now in step with Britain.
"I believe this summit represents a sea change in EU economic thinking," he told reporters. "Europe comes out of Lisbon with a clear strategy for the unfolding digital era," he said, noting that one of the government's five tests for euro entry was that the EU moved forward with such reforms.
"The more Europe moves in the direction of economic reform, the more likely the single currency is to be successful," he said.
His attempts to engage the British public in the great European debate, however, were thwarted by the BBC's preoccupation with his forthcoming paternity leave and the news that the British delegation had taken three jets to get to Lisbon.
But if Britain was mainstream, Austria was still out in the cold despite the wishful thinking of its departing Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schussel. "It is the beginning of a certain normalisation. That can be seen," he told journalists. "He must have been at a different meeting," one diplomat responded.
