National Assembly Member at the heart of the debate on EU’s jobs and growth strategy

Christine Chapman AM has sent a clear message to the incoming European Commission in a paper which sets out what she believes should be the main goals of the EU’s economic strategy.   The paper comes as the ten-year life span of the EU’s flagship ‘Lisbon Strategy’ – the action plan for the EU’s economic growth – draws to a close and a successor strategy is debated. In February the AM was chosen to be the Committee of Region's rapporteur on this key document, to ensure that representatives of local and regional government have a say before EU Heads of State and Government (including the UK Prime Minister) meet in Spring 2010 to agree the future of the Lisbon Strategy. Her paper proposes a ‘sustainable Europe strategy’, based on the premise that the world’s resources are finite and that economic growth has a cost. It outlines the growing social divide within Europe and the subsequent need for a ‘renewed and reinvigorated’ social policy. "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,” said Christine Chapman AM. "There is a strong consensus that the Lisbon Strategy should have a successor and that it brings added value at the EU level, but there is also a view that the future strategy must be different. "We must move towards a more sustainable way of living, and tackle the growing levels of inequality and poverty that persist across Europe. These issues are of direct relevance to Wales, and I was delighted to include examples of the actions we are taking in Wales to address them within the paper”. Mrs Chapman’s report was formally adopted by the CoR’s economic and social policy (ECOS) commission in Poland on September 14. It is expected to win the backing of all CoR members when it goes to the plenary session in Brussels in December. This is timed to fit in with the publication of the European Commission’s proposals for the future of the Lisbon Strategy in early 2010, which will form the basis of the discussions amongst EU Member States at the Spring Summit in March. It is the first time an Assembly Member has been asked to take on such a prestigious role since 2003 when Rosemary Butler, AM for Newport West, was selected as the Rapporteur on proposals for the future of the EU’s Culture Programme.