23/03/10 The 2010 Eco-Innovation Summit

The 2010 Eco-Innovation Summit convened under the timely theme of Europe 2020: Resource Efficiency as a Driver of Sustainable Growth and Jobs. Taking place just two days before the spring European Council which will lay the foundation for EU strategy in the coming decade, Janez Potočnik, European commissioner for the environment, delivered The 2010 Jean Jacques Rousseau Lecture and used the occasion to make a compelling call to make resource efficiency one of its cornerstones. His speech on Resource Efficiency as a Driver of Sustainable Growth and Jobs made the case for a new “environmental contract” and argued for the development of new indicators to measure progress and performance on resource efficiency. The commissioner’s remarks were complemented by an interactive workshop led by Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, on After Copenhagen: How to Advance the Eco-Innovation Agenda in the Absence of a Deal.

Watch highlights of The 2010 Eco-Innovation Summit
Watch The 2010 Jean Jacques Rousseau Lecture Part I
Watch The 2010 Jean Jacques Rousseau Lecture Part II
Watch The 2010 Jean Jacques Rousseau Lecture Part III

02/06/10 High-Level Health Workshop Convenes

Convening under the timely theme Patient Centred Healthcare: New Approaches and Technologies Enabling More Effective Care, this high-level workshop brought together decision makers and top-level practitioners from throughout Europe. Paola Testori Coggi, director-general of DG health and consumer affairs at the European Commission presented the priorities of the new Commission for the transformation of the healthcare system.

28/04/10 Alessandro Leipold on Greek Crisis

In the middle of the Greek financial crisis, the Lisbon Council launches a new e-brief entitled Preventing Greek Tragedy from Becoming a Eurozone Disaster: Lessons from IMF Crisis Lending – and the Challenges Ahead. The author, Alessandro Leipold, economic adviser to the Lisbon Council and a former acting director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), explains how the Greek crisis could be managed much more effectively. In particular, he argues:

• The Greek assistance programme to date has been severely mishandled by European policymakers, with a meandering strategy and poor communication, threatening to undermine European unity itself. The time of muddling through must end.
• Assistance to Greece could usefully draw on the lessons provided by the IMF’s multi-year experience in crisis lending
• First and foremost of these is rapidity of response. Approaching official support as an ultima ratio is misguided. Any further procedural delays should be forestalled by swift provision of bridge financing
• Conditionality needs to cover all macro-relevant aspects, including importantly the financial sector, as strains on Greek banks come to the fore. And private sector involvement has to be pursued to avoid that official financing trigger a “rush for the exits.”
• Assistance should be credible, i.e., quantified for three years. Any hedging on the financing for 2011-2012 would sink the whole exercise
• The cacophony coming out of European capitals has been destructive of market confidence. Verbal undermining from ministers playing to domestic audiences must end, and Europe must find a common voice in the crisis, if its actions are to be seen and held to be credible
• The EU and the IMF can work together – provided a misplaced sense of amour-propre is set aside – and have done so to good effect in the current crisis, notably in Hungary and Latvia

Download Alessandro Leipold's e-brief

28/04/10 Andreas Schleicher on High Cost of Low Educational Performance

The Lisbon Council hosted the European launch of a watershed OECD publication on the High Cost of Low Educational Performance. Presented by Andreas Schleicher, head of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) at the OECD, the study demonstrates the enormous economic return on investment in education. If, for instance, all OECD countries could raise their educational performance to Finland’s level, the result could be an aggregate GDP increase of $260 trillion – an important conclusion as the EU is pondering next steps in its EU 2020 strategy.

Watch interview with Andreas Schleicher

22/10/09 The 2009 Eco-Innovation Summit

At The 2009 Eco-Innovation Summit, Karl Falkenberg, director-general of DG Environment, European Commission, delivered an inspiring and powerful intervention on the outlook for an ambitious deal at COP-15 Copenhagen - and the need to move towards a low-carbon economy. In addition, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, delivered a personal message to The Eco-Innovators Network, wishing them well in their work and calling for a comprehensive, fair and effective international climate change deal. In a written statement, Mr. de Boer said "you as European eco-innovators can play a significant role in helping the world to shift towards a low-carbon society." Convening under the timely theme Public -Private Partnership for a Sustainable Future, other summit highlights included top-level interventions from the European Investment Bank, European Commission, Philips, Google, IBM, and other leading eco-innovators from ten EU countries. The group will remain active, and plans an additional appeal to the COP-15 talks in support of an ambitious climate deal.

04/11/09 Blueprint for Consumer Policy

In a Lisbon Council e-brief, Meglena Kuneva, European commissioner for consumer affairs, enters the debate on the future of the internal market with a visionary and thought-provoking paper entitled A Blueprint for Consumer Policy in Europe: Making Markets Work with and for People. This Blueprint, written in Commissioner Kuneva’s personal capacity, expands and adds detail to the vision that European Commission President Barroso put forward in his Political Guidelines for the Next Commission, where he sets out as a priority the need to work for a single market fit for the 21st century that works for people.

A compelling call to position European policy making firmly in competitive, open and transparent markets, Commissioner Kuneva explains how consumer policy must be more firmly embedded in the service sector, as well as the digital economy and green markets. She also lays out specific recommendations on the governance of the internal market, from public enforcement to regulatory actions. 

The Blueprint for Consumer Policy in Europe was officially launched at an event hosted by the Lisbon Council in Brussels on Thursday, 05 November, featuring Meglena Kuneva; Mario Monti, president of Bocconi University and former European commissioner for competition and internal market; and Eija-Riita Korhola, MEP and vice-chair, committee on internal market and consumer protection, European Parliament. A summary of the event was published by EurActiv, the leading EU news portal, and can be read here.

12/08/09 Growth and Jobs Summit 2009

Meeting in the week leading up to the spring European Council, the Lisbon Council welcomed guests from around Europe for its annual Growth and Jobs Summit. Approaching the Lisbon Agenda’s 2010 deadline, this year’s gathering convened under the timely theme of Devising a Successful Strategy for the Next Decade. Among the speakers was José Manuel Barroso, who addressed the launch of The 2009 European Growth and Jobs Monitor.

12/08/09 Ann Mettler on Innovation

In an article in Parliament Magazine, Ann Mettler argues for a broader, more inclusive understanding of innovation for the new Lisbon Agenda strategy post 2010. In particular, she explains that new technologies and Web 2.0 have led to a democratisation of innovation, with users and collaborative networks playing an increasingly important role in the generation of new ideas. In addition, she calls for the creation of the post of Innovation Commissioner in the next European Commission.

26/08/09 Public Health 2015: New Challenges, New Solutions

In this interactive workshop, top-level practitioners from EU member states as well as the European Commission discussed key challenges to public health: from coping with the demands of an ageing population and squeezed budgets in the aftermath of the global recession to the onset of new technologies which empower patients and allow for digital medical records. The debate was kicked off by Robert Madelin, director-general of the European Commission’s DG Health and Consumer Affairs, who delivered a fascinating overview of key issues on the EU agenda. Other discussants included Juan José Güemes, chief executive of Madrid health service, Javier Carnicero Giménez de Azcárate, director of the Observatorio del Sistema Nacional de Salud in Spain, Laurent Debenedetti, director of the GIP-DMP in France, as well as Mourad Ameziane, managing director of public health Europe, at Accenture.