Assembly Member’s paper on EU jobs and growth strategy gets the nod in Brussels Plenary session
(4/12/2009)
A paper drafted by Christine Chapman AM setting out what she believes should be the main goals of the EU’s future economic strategy has been formally backed by all members of the EU’s Committee of the Regions in Brussels (December 3).
It comes as the ten-year life span of the flagship Lisbon Strategy – the action plan for the EU’s economic growth – draws to a close and a successor strategy is debated.
Mrs Chapman’s opinion will now form the core of the Committee’s message to the Spring 2010 European Council, where Heads of State and Government (including the UK Prime Minister) will meet to decide on the future of the strategy.
In February the AM was chosen to be the Committee of the Region’s rapporteur on this key topic, to ensure that representatives of local and regional government have a say before a successor policy is decided upon.
Her paper sent a clear message to the incoming European Commission, proposing a ‘sustainable Europe strategy’, based on the premise that the world’s resources are finite and that economic growth has a cost.
It also outlines the growing levels of social inequality and poverty in Europe, the lack of recognition of the essential role that local and regional authorities have played in delivering the current strategy, and the subsequent need for a ‘renewed and invigorated’ social policy.
Mrs Chapman said: “It is nearly ten years since the Lisbon Strategy was first agreed in 2000 – an anniversary it shares with the National Assembly for Wales, which I represent in the CoR.
“The financial and economic crisis has had a dramatic impact on people’s lives and I think there is a clear recognition of the need for change over the next decade and beyond. We must move towards a more sustainable way of living, and tackle the inequalities that persist across Europe.
“The Lisbon Strategy needs a successor that is brave, forward-thinking and radical, and that recognises that for Wales, and for Europe, “business as usual” is not the right option.