Prodi can’t escape Lisbon Agenda

Date: 18/03/04

A NEW pan-European network of pro-reform groups who back the EU's beleaguered Lisbon Agenda have left a lasting impression on Romano Prodi.

The European Commission president met nearly two dozen 20-40-somethings, convened by the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based pressure group, on Tuesday (16 March) morning.

They presented him with a 'Citizens' Manifesto', addressed to the upcoming Spring summit, demanding that EU leaders finally adopt tough reforms needed to make the EU the most competitive economy by 2010.

The manifesto, which represents some 11 civil society organizations, calls upon EU leaders to turn the Lisbon Agenda into the "project of this decade" and to "devise a social contract for the 21st century".

Activists also applauded the Irish presidency for calling for 'national reform alliances' in its draft conclusion to the 25-26 March summit. This would open up tri-partite talks between policymakers, employers' associations and labour unions to include pro-reform civil society groups.

Waldemar Paclawski, of the Polish Lisbon Strategy Forum, said: "This [manifesto] represents our vested interest, our economic agenda."

In a meeting on 16 March 2004 with the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based pressure group, European Commission President Romano Prodi was presented with a 'Citizens' Manifesto'. The manifesto is addressed to the Spring European Council and demands that European Union leaders finally adopt the reforms necessary to make the EU the most competitive economy by 2010.