Lisbon Strategy for Sustainable Economic Growth and Jobs in Europe

The EU has worked out the Lisbon Strategy into a large number of goals, most of which are not formulated concretely enough to determine with hindsight whether they have been achieved or not. The strategy is therefore a less powerful instrument than it could have been.

The Netherlands, too, has placed a lot of policy under the banner of the Lisbon Strategy. The goals, however, are not (or inadequately) defined in specific and measurable terms. There are various shortcomings, moreover, in the way in which the Netherlands reports on the progress of the national 'Lisbon policy' in its annual Lisbon reports. This is not conducive to the effectiveness of the Lisbon Strategy.

If the EU and the Netherlands made improvements in these areas, the new Lisbon Strategy, to be introduced in 2010, would be a more powerful instrument. This is important because the Lisbon Strategy has a great deal of potential to increase the EU's competitiveness and bring about a dynamic knowledge-based economy with sustainable economic growth, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.

The Dutch government has shown only limited commitment to the Lisbon Strategy so far. The government has placed existing policy measures in various areas under the banner of the Lisbon Strategy without considering whether achievement of the Lisbon goals in those areas requires different or additional policy from the Netherlands.

At EU level, the government should insist on the Lisbon Strategy having fewer goals than at present as from 2010 and on the goals and associated indicators being formulated in specific and measurable terms wherever possible. The government should also insist at EU level on a substantial reduction in the length of the member states' reports on the Lisbon Strategy. At the same time, quality assurance for the Lisbon reports should be improved. The Minister of Economic Affairs (EZ) should systematically monitor the relevance and consistency of the information in the Lisbon reports. At EU level, the government should insist that a midterm review be planned now to evaluate the Lisbon Strategy's progress and results as from 2010. Finally, when negotiating a new coalition agreement and a new policy agenda, a new government should consider whether the relationship between the agreements negotiated and the Lisbon Strategy is appropriate.

The government welcomed our recommendations to agree a limited number of specific and measurable goals and a more compact reporting method. The Minister of EZ made no undertakings with regard to quality assurance for the Lisbon reports or the relationship between the Lisbon Strategy and a new coalition agreement. If the new Lisbon Strategy again has a time horizon of ten years, the minister agrees with our recommendation that a midterm review should be carried out at EU level of the need to adapt and/or refocus the Strategy.