Press Release: A confident, open, reforming Europe, actively promoting the European interest, can ensure the well-being of its citizens in the age of globalisation, says Commission paper for EU summit

The Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs is the right backbone for the European response to globalisation. Its further deepening is the way to create the wealth that can give practical meaning to core European values of social inclusion and of European and international solidarity. This means increasing the EU's adaptability to provide for the sustainable well-being of its citizens. The above are the main themes of a European Commission discussion paper for EU Heads of State and Government at the Lisbon informal summit on 18-19 October 2007, adopted by the Commission on 3 October. The paper fulfils the request of the 2007 Spring European Council for an interim report on the Lisbon Strategy. It argues that Europe is already achieving notable successes in shaping globalisation, under the broad approach agreed at the Hampton Court summit in October 2005 and centred on the Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy, renewed in the spring of 2005 after its original launch in 2000. But globalisation is constantly evolving. So Europe must ensure that its external and internal policies are mutually reinforcing and be ready to refine them in the light of events, such as changes in energy markets or the recent financial instability. The paper is entitled: "The European Interest: succeeding in the age of globalisation".