The Lisbon Strategy was adopted by the European Council in the spring of 2000 with the aim of transforming Europe “into the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.”

In 2004, the European Council and the European Commission decided to prepare a revision of the Lisbon process to be presented during the Spring European Council in March of 2005. Thus, under the coordination of the then Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Kok, a group of experts was formed to evaluation the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda.
In November of that same year, this group of specialists finalized the evaluation report (“The Wim Kok Report”) which concluded that during the first years of the agenda’s implementation little progress had been achieved and with the following recommendation: the refocusing of the Strategy on the objectives of growth and employment. The Wim Kok Report also highlighted that a “real appropriation” of the reform agenda by the Member States was needed via implementation on the national level.

Using this report as their basis of action, the Heads of State and the Heads of Government of the Member States, meeting at the Spring 2005 European Council, decided to re-launch the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, which in this new phase would consist of three main goals:

• More focus with “rigorous prioritisation”: through a partnership for growth and jobs, supported by an action plan  at the EU level (the “Community Lisbon Programme”) and various national action plans in the member states – the  “National Reform Programmes”.

• Mobilise support for reforms: through a stronger sense of ownership of the necessary reform process on the part of Member State governments, social partners and citizens, with the aim of making the Lisbon Strategy part of the national political debate; and the presentation by the Member States of national action plans as well as the nomination of a National Coordinator of the Lisbon Strategy on the governmental level;

• Simplification and clarification: through the simplification of the processes of evaluation and monitoring which will include single Lisbon report at EU level and one at the national level.

In June 2005 the European Council approved the 24 Broad Integrated Economic Policy Guidelines which consist of the basis on which the Lisbon Strategy is built, highlighting the need to articulate the three dimensions planned for the Strategy: macroeconomic policies, microeconomic policies and employment.

As a consequence of this Council, each country nominated a National Coordinator for the Lisbon Strategy and set forth a National Reform Programme for 2005-2008 (NRP), which, taking into account the Lisbon Strategy Guidelines, would respond to each country’s specific situation and needs and reflect an integrated and coherent approach amongst macroeconomic, microeconomic and employment policies.

In March 2006, The European Council came to a common agreement to focus on the priorities of jobs and growth with its Sustainable Development Strategy, calling for a greater mobilisation of all adequate national and EU resources. It also came to an agreement on a new cycle of government based on partnership and the sense of ownership, defining the following priorities for the future implementation of the Agenda: more investment in education and investigation, more support to SMEs, higher employment rates and the need to define a common energy strategy.

The European Council in March of 2007 issued its first annual report on the progress of the Lisbon Strategy, entitled “A year of Delivery – Time to move up a gear”, integrating a sense of ownership, with specific recommendations for implementation in the Member States – the global appreciation on the Macro, Micro and Employment level, as well as the evaluation and perspectives for implementation of the Community Lisbon Programme. The report concluded that the Commission has delivered on 75% of the actions it presented as the Community dimension of the Lisbon strategy, such as the services directive being adopted, progress being made in financial services and the 7th Research Framework Programme being agreed upon. Unfinished issues include issues such as the portability of pensions, full liberalisation of the energy and transport sector and the renewal of the EU's intellectual property system.
Four priority areas for action were defined, including: further investment in knowledge and innovation, reducing administrative burdens for SMEs, modernising labour markets and energy and climate change.

In March of 2008, the Spring European Council approved the next set of three-year guidelines for implementing the Lisbon Strategy, 2008-2010 – drawn up during the Portuguese and Slovenian EU Presidencies and presented in the strategic report of the European Commission on the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy in December of 2007.

At the Spring Summit, it was decided that the new cycle of the Lisbon Strategy should be implemented. Thus, it was confirmed that the four priority actions agreed upon in the 2006 Spring Council should continue to be the cornerstone of the Lisbon Strategy for 2008-2010. However, there also went out a call for greater synergy within these areas to better attain the Lisbon Strategy goals.

Thus, the Commission invited the Member States to intensify the interchange of good practices in the context of multilateral supervision, namely through the fullest use of the Open Method of Coordination in force.

This Council also launched a second cycle of three years with respect to the revised Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs (2008-2010). It restated the usefulness of the current integrated guidelines (broad directives for economic and employment policy) and the four priority actions defined at the Spring European Council of 2006 – knowledge and innovation, business environments, labour markets, and energy and climate change. Within this scope, Structural and Cohesion Funds were viewed as fundamental instruments of support for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy.

At this Council session, particular emphasis was given to the external dimension of the Lisbon Strategy, moving forward with the belief that European development and competitiveness in a global world presupposes the proper global positioning, not only in terms of the economy but society and environmental sustainability.

This Council also served as a milestone in the debate over the future of the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy, strengthening the need to uphold the commitment in favour of consolidation and advancement of structural reforms on the European Union and national level and its relationship to sustainable development and the policies of cohesion, bringing together the progress achieved within the scope of the Lisbon Strategy. The Commission, the Council and the National Lisbon Coordinators were asked to reflect upon the future of this strategy beyond its termination date of 2010.

In October of 2008, the Member States submitted their National Reform Programmes 2008-2010 based on their then-determined priorities, and together with the European Commission began their reflection on the future of the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy.

On 16 December 2008, the Commission adopted a set of measures to facilitate the application of the plan to re-launch the European economy and strengthen the Lisbon Strategy, including a report on the application and the future priorities of the Lisbon Strategy.

For more information on the Lisbon Strategy, visit the site http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_en.htm

The world economic crisis has demanded that short-tem financial stabilization, the re-launching of the economy and the protection of jobs take place, namely with measures to support businesses and families and responses appraised in the context of the Lisbon Strategy, bearing in mind the need for these measures to be framed in structural responses assured by Europe’s economic and social development sustainability. 

Principal Base Documents

- Conclusions of the European Councils

- Annual Reports

Priorities

Integrated Guide Lines