EU 'going backwards' on economic goals
Europe is going backwards in its aim to become the most competitive economy in the world by 2010, the head of the European Trades Union Congress has told the EUobserver.
In an interview with this news site, John Monks said he was pessimistic for the prospects of the EU acheiving its goals, saying, "it’s not that certain things won’t be acheived, it’s that we’re going backwards, particularly in key areas like R&D, innovation rates and investment".
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But he does not believe that the EU should change the terms of the "Lisbon Strategy" – its economic goals – saying, "I don't think there's much point. I can't see how we could say 'we only want to be the second biggest economy in the world' or 'we want to be the biggest economy in the world by 2020'. I don't think that would frankly carry any more meaning than the present goals or any more credibility".
The charismatic and straight-talking union leader concludes, "We’re stuck with it and we should assess honestly where we are and why we’re not there".
Let’s get serious
So why aren’t we there, in his view?
He lays the blame unequivocably at the door of the 15 Member States, some of which he thinks promise much and deliver little, rather than the European Commission.
"I don’t think the failure lies in the structure with the Commission but with the nation states not tacking enthusiastically behind the measures they have promised to take", he says.
And he dismisses the idea – recently proposed by the leaders of France, Germany and the UK – of creating a Commissioner for the Lisbon Strategy, saying that "there are plenty of Commissioners with Lisbon at the front of their minds".
He himself proposes changing the rules underpinning the euro and gearing the EU’s budget now to fulfilling these crucial economic aims.
"If you were serious, really serious, about economic reform, you would have reform of the Stability and Growth Pact ... you would have an EU budget that was pro-innovation and creativity".
The inference is that some EU leaders are not entirely serious about economic reform.
Keep our perspective
Mr Monk’s greatest concern is that social aspects of the Lisbon strategy are sacrificed on the altar of the drive for increased competitiveness.
Trades unions, he says, are concerned that as the targets become harder to acheive, the temptation to deregulate labour markets and place less emphasis on sustainable development will be too great to resist.
And despite his general pessimism on hitting the ambitious targets, he remains a passionate believer in the importance of the strategy.
"It was an articulation of a European approach to growth which was to match competitiveness and productivity improvement with social progress and sustainable development", he explains. "I thought it was a pretty good statement of where Europe should be".
"I'm just disappointed that not more has been done to push it".
Accession countries to the rescue
However, help might be on its way in the shape of the new member states. He believes enlargement will go some way to catching up with the US, declaring himself "very optimistic" about the new markets.
"With a bit of luck, their growth rates will be the best thing happening in Europe in that they are running at five or six percent ... if you can sustain that, I'm not saying you can catch up all that quickly, but you can certainly narrow the gap very quickly".
John Monks is General Secretary of the European Trades, which represents 77 National Trade Union Confederations from a total of 35 European countries, as well as 11 European industry federations, making a total of 60 million members