Lisbon goals: "We can take the Member States to water but we can't make them drink"

5.14.34pm GMT Wed 25th Jan 2006

"For the past six years the Lisbon agenda has been long on rhetoric and short on action. Today's relaunch by the Commission is not before time", commented Graham Watson MEP, leader of the European Liberals and Democrats today, following a meeting between the Commission President and Vice President and parliamentary group leaders.

"The Commission is proposing very concrete measures which echo the commitments from last year's Hampton Court summit, notably substantial increases in R&D funding, increasing investment in higher education, removing obstacles to work (eg. child care facilities and active ageing), supporting a healthy climate for business start-up, reducing the regulatory burden and developing a common European energy policy. These are all tangible, measurable and liberal ideas which Liberal Democrats have been calling for persistently."

"The ALDE group is also quite clear that the chief responsibility for the success or failure of the Lisbon goals of economic growth lies with the Member States. The Commission can take the Member States to water but it cannot make them drink. It is now up to each and every national government to take these recommendations seriously and commit, at the Spring European Council, to comply with their National Reform Programmes and learn from best practice across the Union. That is the best way for Europe to provide a useful service to its citizens in the coming years."