Die Lissabon-Strategie und die neuesten EU-Mitglieder

Der ehemalige tschechische EU-Kommissar, Pavel
Telicka, beurteilt, wie die neuesten EU-Mitgliedstaaten
mit der Herausforderung der Erreichung der Ziele der
Lissabon-Strategie umgehen. In diesem Artikel, der
vom European Policy
Centre veröffentlicht wurde, vertritt der Autor die
Auffassung, dass die Erfahrungen der osteuropäischen
Mitgliedstaaten mit der Umsetzung schwieriger Reformen vorteilhaft
für Union hinsichtlich der Erfüllung der Zielsetzungen für 2010
sein könnten, obgleich die neuen Mitgliedsländer später in den
Lissabon-Prozess eingetreten sind.

When the Lisbon Strategy was agreed upon the candidate countries
of Central and Eastern Europe had other, more pressing issues on
their minds. They were just entering the crucial phase of accession
negotiations, implementing their reforms and in some cases
struggling with them. Their efforts were subordinated primarily to
one goal – returning to the family of nations to which, they firmly
believed, they belonged. Their eyes were set on EU
membership. 

It is true that the Lisbon Strategy appeared in discussions
between the European Commission and the candidate countries from
time to time. But even the Commission understood that the focus of
the candidates could not be on the Lisbon process but on other
goals, though some of the issues in the relevant policy areas
overlapped with existing Lisbon aims. This may be one of the
reasons why the Commission gave the candidate countries a large
degree of “liberty.” 

The accession countries, for the most part, paid lip service to
the Lisbon Agenda in the form of political declarations that
pleased the Commission. The question remains though, whether their
underlying attitude was all that different than that of the
existing EU-15 Member States. To be fair, the economic and
development situation addressed in the Lisbon Agenda as well as the
attitude of elites to the Strategy, differed from country to
country – but not a great deal. 

To read the article in full, visit the European Policy Centre website.