Lisbon strategy

The Lisbon Strategy or Lisbon Strategy (also Lisbon Process or Lisbon Agenda ) was a program adopted at a special summit of the European heads of state and government in Lisbon in March 2000 , the aim of which was to bring the European Union together within ten years by 2010, to make it the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. The successor program is known as " Europe 2020 ".

Goals and Strategy

The aim of the Lisbon strategy is to make the European Union more competitive . The aim is therefore to increase productivity and the speed of innovation in the EU through various policy measures. Competitors Japan and especially the USA served as the benchmark . With this strategy, the EU wanted to “be a role model for economic, social and ecological progress in the world within the framework of the global goal of sustainable development”.

The main fields of this program are economic, social and ecological renewal and sustainability in the following areas:

• Innovation as a motor for economic growth (based on Joseph Schumpeter )
• " Knowledge society "
• social cohesion and environmental protection

The European Council in Nice in December 2000 adopted the European Social Agenda to implement the goals in the social policy area .

The 2004 interim report , led by former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok , detailed this comparison with the USA.

Kok criticized: "The European Union risks falling short of its ambitious goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic economic area in the world by 2010, capable of achieving sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion", and calls for intensified, coordinated reform efforts.

At his meeting on 22./23. In March 2005 the European Council reaffirmed the Lisbon growth targets. But since the growth gap with the USA had widened in the past five years, he avoided setting specific targets. Each member state should draw up its own national reform programs.

Results

The final report (SEC (2010 No. 114)) of the EU Commission on the Lisbon Strategy was published on February 2, 2010. It stated that the core objectives (increasing the employment rate to 70 percent and investment in research and development to 3 percent ) were clearly missed. The employment rate rose from 62 percent in 2000 to 66 percent in 2008; the share of investments in research and development from 1.82 percent (2000) to only 1.9 percent (2008). It should be noted that during the same period the EU expanded from 15 to 27 and the euro zone from 12 to 16 member states. In addition, unemployment increased as a result of the global economic crisis from 2007 ; Consolidation measures from 20 years have been undone.

The goals of the Lisbon strategy will be pursued in the follow-up strategy " Europe 2020 " adopted in 2010 .

criticism

Criticism has been expressed of the principles of the strategy from the education sector , which is badly affected .

• The open method of coordination is described as opaque and undemocratic and as a softening of the principle of the separation of powers (the executive branch / the heads of government take over the tasks of the legislature ).
• The EU is accused of wanting to use the strategy to penetrate areas in which, according to its constitution, it has no competencies (this is particularly education).
• It is feared that education will be instrumentalized for short-term, exclusively economic-political purposes.
• There is also criticism from countries outside the Union, as the strategy also affects non-EU countries massively and it forces a more aggressive approach towards non-members (e.g. in the paper of the Swiss Student Union).

Thought leaders of the Lisbon strategy

Contemporary scholars, on whose work the Lisbon Strategy is based or who were and are involved in its creation or scientific support and adaptation, are among others. a.

• Maria João Rodrigues (Lisbon, Portugal; lead author and coordinator of the Lisbon Summit) *
• Robert Boyer (Paris, France) *
• Manuel Castells (Berkeley, California, USA / Barcelona, ​​Spain) *
• Benjamin Coriat (Paris, France) *
• Anthony Giddens (London, England / Santa Barbara, California, USA)
• Wolfgang Drechsler (Tallinn, Estonia / Marburg, Germany) *
• Christopher Freeman (Sussex, England)
• Bengt-Ake Lundvall (Aarhus, Denmark) *
• Pier-Carlo Padoan (Rome, Italy) *
• Carlota Perez (Cambridge, England / Tallinn, Estonia)
• Luc Soete (Maastricht, Netherlands) *

(*) Member of the Lisbon Agenda Group

Key concepts of the Lisbon strategy

Key concepts of the Lisbon Strategy include: a.

• Knowledge society
• innovation
• Techno-economic paradigms
• Technology governance
• Open method of coordination

See also

• This goal can also be found in the measures and in the name of Agenda 2010 of the Schröder federal government .

literature

• European Council, 23 and 24 March 2000, Lisbon, Presidency Conclusions, I.5.
• Maria João Rodrigues: European Policies for a Knowledge Economy . Edward Elgar, Cheltenham et al. 2003, ISBN 1-84064-977-1 .

Web links

• Lisbon European Council, March 2000 - Presidency Conclusions ( HTML , PDF )
• The European Commission on the Lisbon Strategy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Half-time in Lisbon ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Kok Report - Creating More Employment in Europe, 2004-11
3. ↑ Lisbon Strategy, V. Final Assessment and Outlook
4. ↑ Europe above everything! The »Lisbon Strategy« of the European Union ( Memento of the original of April 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Lisbon Process: Handbook from ESIB - the national unions of students in Europe (English)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
    
5. ↑ Position paper of the Swiss Student Union (VSS-UNES-USU) on the Lisbon Strategy of the European Union. ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 108 kB)