 |
 |
7.1 Short history, including the Lisbon ProgrammeThe EU has, through the years, had promoted many polices to assist industry, business and internal trade. Some of the early policies were driven by the need to support declining industries but, since the 1990s, the emphasis has been on trying to raise the overall economic performance of the EEC and reduce unemployment, whilst retaining the Social Market Model. The Single Market Undoubtedly one of the most important policies has been the development of the Single Market, with the aim of removing non-tariff barriers to trade within the EEC. Indeed it can be said that the key policy theme of the 1980s was the Single Market Programme (broadly achieved by end 1992), which was enabled by the Single European Act (SEA, 1986). Even though much was achieved with this programme, there has also been disappointment. The subsequent growth rates have not been as expected.1 There is, moreover, increasing frustration at the costs of Single Market regulations. Indeed Günter Verheugen, EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, announced in 2006 that EU regulations were costing the European economy some €600bn a year (this was almost twice as high as previous estimates). €600bn is about 5.5% of total EU GDP, equivalent to the size of the Dutch economy. Comparing the Single Market's costs with its benefits is salutary. In 2003 the Commission published their assessment that EU GDP in 2002 was around €165bn higher than it would have been without the Single Market. Even after allowing for the extra GDP growth since 2002, this means that the benefits are less than a third of the costs. Unsurprisingly, deregulation has been an issue is a continuing theme of the EU and there have been many deregulation initiatives over the years including the Molitor Group (set up in 1994). The current initiative is being driven by Commissioner Verheugen, supported by President Barroso. Verheugen conceded in 2005 that the EU was seen as a "bureaucratic monster" and that 900 draft laws had not been subjected to cost-benefit analysis despite their potential effects on business. In March 2005 he launched plans to simplify both EU and national legislation by:
The rate of deregulatory progress has been disappointing. Policy initiatives developed to improve the working of the Single Market, including taxation, competition policy, energy and transport are discussed in other Fact Sheets in Section 7. The Lisbon Programme In order to address the disappointing levels of economic growth in the EU the European Council at Lisbon (the "dotcom" summit) in March 2000 agreed to set itself a target of turning the EU into "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion" by 2010. Specific policy developments linked with Lisbon and later summits were:
In order to achieve the 2010 goal, the Lisbon Programme aimed to:
The original Lisbon Programme included two sets of guidelines for achievements by 2010:
Three main issues for the realisation of the Lisbon Programme for the 10-year period 2000-10 were identified:
It is generally recognised that progress towards the 2010 target has fallen well short of plans. The lack of progress was underlined in a report by Wim Kok (a former Dutch PM), presented to the Commission in November 2004.2 The "Kok report" concluded that the Lisbon targets were unlikely to be met by 2010 mainly because member states had shown a lack of political will to drive the structural reforms needed. Moreover, the Programme had been overloaded, coordination had been poor and there had been conflicting priorities. The mid-term review and revised Lisbon Programme was re-launched by Commission President Barroso in March 2005. The original Lisbon Programme was simplified and refocused on growth and employment. The goal of being the world's most competitive economy by 2010 was dropped. The Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPGs) and the Employment Guidelines (EGs) were integrated in the revised Lisbon Programme to give the "integrated guidelines for growth and jobs". The new guidelines were grouped as follows:
Under the revised Lisbon Programme member states are obliged to draw up 3-year national reform programmes on the basis of the "integrated guidelines". Member states will then be obliged to report each autumn on the implementation of the reform programme. The first 3-year cycle under this new regime relates to the years 2005-2008. Other developments Although the Community has been heavily involved in fundamental and applied research in the nuclear industry (starting with Euratom) since the 1950s, its involvement in industrial research began only in the 1980s with the growing realisation that the EC was falling behind Japan and the US - and even South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. This will be discussed further in Fact Sheet 7.9. The 1990s was marked by concern over the high and persistent unemployment levels. The real beginning of the examination of employment at the EU level came about with the Delors White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment in 1993.3 This, and subsequent developments, will be discussed in Section 8. References 1. Paolo Cecchini, The European Challenge, 1992: The benefits of the Single Market, Wildwood House, 1988. 2. The Kok report was a report presented to the Commission on 3 November 2004 by a High Level Group of Independent Experts (chaired by Wim Kok). 3. European Commission, Growth, Competitiveness and Employment: the challenges and ways forward into the 21st century, 1993. (Delors White Paper.) RL, February 2007 |
| Copyright © Global Vision 2007 | Created by Navertech |