THE LISBON AGENDA FROM 2000 TO 2010

The Lisbon Agenda was approved in mars 2000 and at that time, the European Union was facing economic prosperity. Even so, globalization and new knowledge economies were becoming an increasing threat and the EU was in need of a transformation in its economy and society. The Lisbon Agenda was set to make the EU the most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world, and at the same time preserving, or even improving social cohesion and maintain environmental sustainability. Another important motivation for the Lisbon Agenda was the perception that the EU was lagging behind the US and other major economies. The main instrument that was put forward was open method of co-ordination (OMC) that includes indicators, benchmarking, peer pressure, and best practise. The time-period was set for ten years and the midterm evaluations found that the goals had not be reached. Due to the lacking results, the Lisbon Agenda was forced to change some of the implementation processes. The many quantitative goals were reduced, and only the goal to dedicate three percent of GDP to R&D stayed in its original shape. The main goals were now on growth, and jobs.