On the eve of the meeting of the heads of State and of Government, for the 'spring Council', the aim was to explain the point of view of the social partners for the boosting of the 'Lisbon strategy' initiated early in 2000. This sought to rely upon a society of knowledge and innovation as the motor for economic and social development in Europe. But the resources deployed since then have remained woefully inadequate.  

EUROCADRES participated at this meeting. For us, as for the ETUC, it is essential to take co-ordinated initiatives in Europe on all the three pillars at once, namely:

• economic policies,
• social policies,
• and environmental policies.

It would be illusory and dangerous to neglect one area compared to the others.

In particular, we EUROCADRES and CEC had emphasised in a common text the importance that we attach to the need to invest more firmly in the knowledge society, to combine active employment policies with the reinforcement of training and efforts towards sustainable development.

The draft directive on services is the classic bad example through the threats that it included to the European social model. The success of the European trade union demonstration held on 19 March in Brussels made it possible to bring strong pressure to bear. We managed to get it profoundly reworked.

It will be over the course of the coming months that we shall be able to judge whether growth and employment are recovering. This will depend on the measures which will be taken to ensure that Europe does not just depend on the global environment, but that it is the 'motor for its own growth', in line with the determination shown by the European social partners in a common statement.

EUROCADRES-Flash n°32 (April 2005)