The Lisbon Agenda: EU leaders have expressed renewed determination to meet ambitious economic targets set in Lisbon four years ago, with the Taoiseach insisting that the drive for competitiveness and growth would enhance rather than diminish social and environmental protection.
After a discussion on the so-called Lisbon Agenda, the European Council published conclusions yesterday acknowledging that the pace of economic reform had to be stepped up if the Lisbon aim of making the EU the most competitive economy in the world by 2010 was to be achieved.
Mr Ahern told a press conference that the fall in member-states' growth rates was the reason why the plan was behind schedule. But now "the climate for delivering on the Lisbon Agenda is better than at any time over the past four years because the global economy is picking up and we have positioned ourselves to benefit from that upturn".
The summit conclusions urge member-states to implement a series of commitments made but in many cases not acted upon. These include strict control of public finances, increased investment, simpler regulation of business, completion of the single European market, the promotion of new projects in the areas of transport, energy, telecommunications and more research, development and innovation.
The conclusions warn of the risk to Europe's traditional social protections: "With the strides being made by other global players, the Union must act more decisively if it is to maintain the capacity to support the European social model in the years ahead."
The conclusions also put social cohesion and environmental protection at the centre of the Lisbon project. Trade unions have expressed some concern that these aims may be relegated behind the drive for greater economic efficiency. The Taoiseach rejected this, saying it was unfair "that, if you don't in the same breath mention competitiveness and social inclusion, people think you are forgetting it".
"If you are competitive you generate employment, if you generate employment you generate resources, if you generate resources you can spend those resources and you can help people who need it. We all want to protect the rights of our workers and the rights of our pensioners." Mr Ahern said he did not accept that labour market reform - an important element of the Lisbon Agenda - always led to the loss of jobs.
He said the single most important aim was fostering "research and development based around the life sciences. This is where we can really change across Europe. We have to be prepared to put the resources into research, into development, into the sciences. Member-states must do that and it must be done at European level as well." The next Commission would have to look at the proposal to have a vice-president for competition.
Mr Ahern said enlargement made it more critical to accelerate economic reforms. Legislation agreed at the European Parliament in recent weeks related to financial services, opening up the rail market, property rights and environmental liability. Many legislative measures had been agreed and the issue now was to ensure these were implemented in all member-states.