I wish a happy new year to the members of the committee and to the members of the press and the public at this meeting. While we all celebrate a new year we particularly celebrate the fact that 2009 is behind us. Please God the forthcoming year will be a little more prosperous for us all and for the country, and will be a year of more progress. I hope it and the decade will be rather better than the past decade.
There is another very busy year ahead of us. One of the interesting things we face is the new format for the Presidency of the European Council. A new trio of presidencies begins now for an 18 month period. For six months of that 18 month period Spain will be in office, followed by Belgium and Hungary. A new institutional framework is commencing. The Spanish Government has made an early start and I wish it well. I look forward to bringing reviews and reports back to the committee on how the new process is working.
I thank the committee for inviting me to the meeting to discuss the future EU 2020 strategy. It is one of the most important issues on the European Union agenda for the year ahead. This afternoon I will travel to a meeting of the European affairs Ministers at which we will discuss this issue in some detail. Before talking about our views on the new strategy, I will speak briefly about the process involved. The European Commission launched the consultation paper on the future EU 2020 strategy in November last year. Interested stakeholders — there can be no more interested stakeholders in these processes than the national parliaments, with this committee representing our Parliament — have been invited to contribute their ideas and views by 15 January.
The Government is in the process of finalising our position and I will ensure members are provided with a copy of the comments we will submit as soon as possible. The committee will work on that and I will ensure that the views of the committee, and of sister committees in other parliaments, are heard. Following the consultation process the Commission is expected to bring forward a set of formal proposals. These will be discussed by member governments first at an informal European Council meeting on 11 February and then at the spring European Council in March, with a view to heads of state and government adopting the final text of the new strategy at the June European Council. That is how the issue will proceed in the next few months.
As members will know, the EU launched the Lisbon strategy in March 2000 with the aim of making Europe the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world. In 2005, the strategy was reviewed and refocused on jobs and growth and establishing a more streamlined process for delivering and seeing through the process. In 2008, the strategy was further refined, shifting the emphasis towards the environmental and climate change agenda, innovation and a more citizen-centred approach. Globalisation, climate change and an ageing population became key challenges for the future.
I am a little critical of that because the strategy should not be treated like a Christmas tree on which everyone hangs the next issue. We should have a coherent strategy and we should work towards its implementation. Above all, a strategy should be set out with quantifiable objectives in order that the stakeholders as they are called — that is, the citizens of Europe — can see coherently and objectively what has been achieved.
EU2020 will become the successor to the Lisbon strategy. I have a problem with the title EU2020 because it is meaningless except to the initiated and, therefore, excludes the people who count — that is, the public. It is Euro jargon which we could do without. I will suggest tonight that a more coherent and more focused title should be used for the strategy. Perhaps this committee will make its view known because I know the Chairman's view would be very similar to mine.
It is important that we learn from our experience with the Lisbon strategy and that the new strategy encapsulates its strengths and those of Europe. That is why we believe that the focus of the new strategy must be purely on jobs and growth. These two elements — jobs and growth — must remain central to our endeavours. The European Union can help to deliver on jobs and growth. If one asks the average citizen in any city or town across the Community, he or she will say jobs and growth must be at the top of the agenda.
One of the concerns about the current Lisbon strategy is that is has become too unwieldy — I mentioned a number of other agenda were added to it — and we must ensure that the new strategy does not lose its way in the years ahead. Therefore, the successor to the Lisbon strategy should maintain a tight focus on a relatively small number of key objectives.
One such focus should be the achievement of high quality sustainable employment and sustainable economic growth, based on a high level of competitiveness. The new strategy must be seen in the context of the economic crisis, including the sharp economic contraction we have seen and the rise in unemployment. In order to meet the new challenges that the downturn has posed, there must be greater policy emphasis on activation and training for the unemployed.
The new strategy must also foster an enterprise culture and work towards fostering the smart economy. Such a smart economy, built as it is on innovation, research and world class education and training, offers Europe a sustainable path for future growth. High levels of good quality employment, set in a high quality environment, which promotes social cohesion, will follow from such a strategy.
Better and more targeted regulation should also form an element of our approach over the medium term, thus enhancing competitiveness. We all agree that regulation, although well-intended, can accumulate and become a real blockage to innovation. The strategy should also address the competitive opportunities and challenges which the rapid development of our global partners present for Europe.
We believe that the new EU2020 strategy or whatever it is called must also be simpler and more clearly drafted with a monitoring and reporting system providing clear results. When a major corporation sets out its plans for the future, they are set out in coherent and objective terms so that one can measure achievement over a period of time. If Europe adopts that attitude, one can make the necessary adjustments as one moves forward but if there is more ambivalent language and less objectivity, one will not make the progress needed. We believe the strategy must be simple, set out in clearly defined terms, capable of objective monitoring and have reporting systems that will allow one to make the necessary adjustments.
One of the major innovations of the Lisbon treaty is the European citizens' initiative. This provides that "not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of member states may take the initiative of inviting the Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties". We all strongly supported that and discussed it at some length during the recent referendum. We talked about it as being part of the process of returning democracy to the people.
I welcome the fact the Spanish Presidency has decided to place significant emphasis on the initiative. The citizens' initiative is high on the agenda of tomorrow's informal meeting of European Ministers in Segovia.
The citizens' initiative has the potential to increase participative democracy for European Union, which we all support. EU citizens are being brought centre stage by this initiative and are being given the right to call directly on the Commission to bring forward new policy initiatives. It could also reinforce citizens' and organised civil society's involvement in the shaping of EU policies.
The Commission has issued a Green Paper and is hoping that the regulation on the citizens' initiative to follow from this will be adopted and in force towards the end of this year. The Green Paper raises a number of procedural issues which member states will need to agree on as part of the framing of the regulation to bring about the citizens' initiative. Consultations are under way with other interested Departments to ensure a joined up approach by way of response to the Green Paper questions and, more important, to inform the Government position when this matter comes before the Council.
In forthcoming meetings of this committee, I would be delighted to discuss the specifics in this regard. I would be happy to set out our current thinking on any aspect of the Green Paper or on any other issue. I look forward to members' questions.