Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-25-Speech-3-082"
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"en.20040225.5.3-082"2
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".
Mr President, I too would like to thank every Member who participated in the debate. I may not agree with all of the analysis, but I found the debate extraordinarily interesting and very constructive. I do not have time to mention each of the points, but there were a number of interesting points made during the course of the debate.
In conclusion I would like to thank each Member for their contributions to this very interesting and focused debate.
Mr Blokland, for example, illustrated that the Lisbon agenda is running out: we can number the amount of time we have left in days. That was a very interesting point. Flexibility in our approach was emphasised by Mr Crowley, and Mr De Rossa indicated how dynamic a world Europe exists in and how extraordinary the challenges are which arise from that.
Not surprisingly speakers were very clear as to the need to continuously tackle the barriers that prevent full implementation of the Lisbon strategy. Mr Baron was absolutely correct when he said that the way to hell is paved with good intentions; there are plenty of good intentions in the Lisbon strategy. As presidency we are conscious that as well as expressing good intentions we also need to focus the whole process in very much the way that Mr Watson suggested.
The strategy does not belong to the European institutions, but to the people of Europe. There are many stakeholders here – a point well made by Ms Randzio-Plath. Somehow we have to engage the attention of all these stakeholders – not just the Member State governments and the institutions, but the people of Europe – and make sure they focus on the agenda itself and what this means in reality.
Many Members spoke about the issue of regulation. I am not sure that Mr Jonckheer and myself would agree with each other, but he made the point about the concerns that exist about liberalisation and regulation, a matter that was also touched on by many other speakers. We feel very strongly that a significant amount of time and attention must be focused on making sure that regulation is effective, i.e. that it helps the process rather than hindering it.
Another of the key focuses in the debate was on what is necessary to put in place to create a truly knowledge-based economy. I would agree with Commissioner Reding who at the very outset made a point about the necessary emphasis on education. I would also agree with the points made by Mrs Grossetête and Mrs García-Orcoyen Tormo on the need for research and development. There were many contributions throughout the debate about how we deal with the issue of creating a knowledge-based economy and I believe that Members were correct in pointing out that education is key, as is investment in research and development.
One point that did strike me was the one made again and again about the necessity of creating a research environment within the Europe. Researchers are the seed capital of a knowledge-based economy and the EU and its Member States must recognise this.
The Lisbon strategy is not some musty academic concept; it is vital to the lives of the citizens of the EU-15 and, as from 1 May 2004, it will also be vital to the lives and wellbeing of 450 million citizens of our Union across 25 states. It is an endeavour that deserves all of our attention, our energy and our ingenuity. Insofar as this presidency is concerned it is a key priority and we are putting a lot of attention and focus on it.
At the March European Council meeting we intend to use a focused, as opposed to scatter-gun, approach. We believe that we have to focus very carefully on those things that we can achieve and get on with the task of achieving them."@en1
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