Lisbon Strategy

At the Lisbon summit in March 2000, European Union leaders set out a new strategy, based on a consensus among Member States, to modernize Europe. This became known as the Lisbon Strategy.

After initially moderate results, the Lisbon Strategy was simplified and relaunched in 2005. It is now making a strong contribution to Europe's current economic upturn

Aim

The Lisbon Strategy aimed at making the European Union (EU) the most competitive economy in the world and achieving full employment by 2010. This strategy, developed at subsequent meetings of the European Council, rests on three pillars:

• An economic pillar preparing the ground for the transition to a competitive, dynamic, knowledge-based economy. Emphasis is placed on the need to adapt constantly to changes in the information society and to boost research and development.
• A social pillar designed to modernise the European social model by investing in human resources and combating social exclusion. The Member States are expected to invest in education and training, and to conduct an active policy for employment, making it easier to move to a knowledge economy.
• An environmental pillar, which was added at the Göteborg European Council meeting in June 2001, draws attention to the fact that economic growth must be decoupled from the use of natural resources.

External links

Lisbon Strategy -Europa Glosary

Lisbon Strategy Wikipedia

See also Treaty of Lisbon