The Lisbon Agenda

As much as our salary, our pensions and our standard of living are main concerns to all of us, so is economic growth, as it has a direct bearing on them. Economic growth is the underpinning that creates jobs and that generates enough wealth to sustain the environment and an effective social net. With growing international competition and an aging population, we are running the risk that we would not be able to afford the social and environmental model that we have developed over the last decades.

The concept

The Lisbon Agenda was conceived in this scenario. The EU heads of state and government who met in Lisbon in March 2000 were very much aware of the dynamics that would threaten their society in the future. They realised that they must boost economic growth and undertook to develop "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion"

This was intended to be a turning point for EU enterprise and innovation policy and to achieve a high-level integration of social and economic policy with practical initiatives to strengthen the EU's research capacity, promote entrepreneurship and facilitate take-up of information society technologies.

The pillars

The main pillars on which this objective was to be achieved were:

* Education - improving accessibility to all levels of education and pushing technology in the curricula.

* Innovation - the strengthening of research capacity within the EU and the facilitation of the adoption of ICT technologies such as a faster rollout of the Internet in homes.

* Entrepreneurship - greater support for small businesses, the reduction of bureaucracy and regulation and the liberalisation in telecoms, gas and electricity markets. This will reduce the harassment that destroys initiative and that adds overlays of cost that increases the risk factor.

* Refocused Social Objectives - reform of the social security systems and increasing the number of people employed by creating jobs and at the same time improving female participation and pushing back the retirement age.

Reality

Midway through the target period set for the implementation of this strategy, it has been realised that little progress has been made. Thorny issues were not addressed with the vigour that they warranted and vital reforms were sidetracked by opposition from lobbies and interest groups that saw them as a threat to their future.

In the spring summit of March 2004, EU leaders renewed their commitment to the Lisbon targets and stated: "The European Council reaffirms that the process and goals remain valid. However, the pace of reform needs to be significantly stepped up." They also pledged to "demonstrate the political will to make this happen".

They commissioned a reassessment of the instruments and methods used to date. A report was presented to the European Commission and the European Council at the beginning of November. This declared the progress made so far as disappointing, attributing this to "an overloaded agenda, poor co-ordination and conflicting priorities" exacerbated by the lack of political will by the member states.

The relaunch

In the last summit meeting, the Luxembourg Presidency focused on a relaunching of the Lisbon Strategy by refocusing priorities, improving its governance through the creation of national action programmes and implementation and implementing a specific communication strategy.

Malta

In Malta, the sluggish economic growth that we are experiencing can only be revitalised through a commitment to this strategy. I have said it many a time. In fact this was the theme of the last two budgets that I presented to Parliament.

An investment in education at all levels. In this all those involved in the system must ensure that the money being pushed into this sector is not eaten up by perks and other distributive schemes among those who work in this sector, but is represented by real added value.

There must be a total commitment to ensure the implementation of new curricula and new teaching methods as well as the widening of the net for all citizens to start an education programme, retrain or adjourn themselves.

Research has to continue to be incentivised. As Malta does not have the critical mass to initiate certain research projects, we must seek participation in pan-European projects. Our EU membership has made this even more possible and we should ensure that we are exploiting all the opportunities that present themselves.

Research should be the link between education and the operative economic sector. The place where they are brought together to sharpen their vision of the future and update their modus operandi.

Bureaucracy has to be minimised. There should be an audit of all processes and procedures in all state and parastatal entities to see that we are not using redundant processes and that there is a high level of co-ordination among them.

There must be a social pact that refocuses on our social model. Healthy people who reach 60 must be encouraged to continue to work. We must reduce waste in our social assistance systems. We must rationalise our social assistance programmes. We must ensure more productivity at the same time as ensuring more investment in innovation. We must be very careful to weave an adequate social net for our people, one that protects the unfortunate but which does not entice people to become social parasites.

There must be a focal point that co-ordinates this seriously within Government. A unit that develops the plan of action and oversees its execution. A unit that brings together the bureaucratic overhead and drums some sense into them. A unit that works with the MCESD to build up the implementation with the cooperation of all social partners.

If all of us are not going to have this commitment and show it in practice, then it is useless to blabber, wail and tear our hair about the state of our economy.

jd@dbms.com.mt