European Union states must speed up economic reforms to achieve their goal of making the region the world's most dynamic economy by the end of the decade, European Commission President Romano Prodi said today.
"Together with the Greek [EU] presidency we must push member states to speed up the process of reform in the European economy," Mr Prodi told a news conference following a meeting between Commission and Greek officials.
He said the 15 members of the EU had not made enough progress to reach the goal of turning united Europe into a global economic powerhouse, a target set in Lisbon in 2000.
Since 2000, when growth in Europe topped 3 per cent, the EU economy had lost all of its momentum and the European Commission predicted earlier this week the 12-nation euro area may even shift into reverse gear in the first quarter of this year.
It forecast that, under the worst scenario, the euro zone economy would contract by 0.1 per cent in the first three months of 2003 and at best grow by 0.3 per cent, lagging behind the US economy.
The EC and the euro area central bankers have repeatedly called for more determination in reforming Europe's rigid labour and goods market to spur growth and help the region to weather the global economic slowdown better.