Date of release : 07-03-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

Nicolas Schmit, Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, received the Swedish Secretary of State Lars Danielsson in Luxembourg on 7 March 2005.

During their meeting, discussions focused essentially on the preparation of the next European Council which will take place in Brussels on 22 and 23 March 2005.

Among the important issues on the Presidency agenda was the Lisbon Strategy. The objective of the Lisbon process is to give the European Union the means to become a knowledge-based society with a competitive economy able to meet the social and environmental expectations of its citizens

During the next European Council, the Luxembourg Presidency will begin the mid-term review of this process, based on the guidelines of a Commission report. The task will be to relaunch the strategy around the three pillars (economic, social and environmental) by identifying a limited number of priorities. Simplifying the management of the Lisbon Process will allow citizens as well as political, economic and social players to better understand what is involved.

On this subject, Nicolas Schmit stated that "it is an important moment for the Luxembourg Presidency, but also for Europe in general. It is a period which will test Europe’s capacity to engage in, or follow more actively, a process of economic and social reform along the road which was mapped out in Lisbon in 2000, and in Goteborg in 2001".

He also pointed out that the two other objectives of the Luxembourg Presidency were the strengthening of the economic governance of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and clarifying implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact. "We are all aware of the importance for Europe to revive its economy, to strengthen its competitiveness, and to reach higher levels of growth in general". The Presidency wants to bring to a successful conclusion the revision of the Stability and Growth Pact and come to an agreement at the European Council of March 2005. According to the Luxembourg Minister, "it is important that we manage to draw a close to this discussion. Any prolonged discussion becomes counterproductive".

On the issue of the financial perspectives, the Presidency confirmed that it would do all in its power to see an agreement through by June 2005. For Nicolas Schmit, "it is a coherent approach. We cannot say today that Europe wants to re-launch its economy, invest more in the economic future, namely through research, while at the same time not being able to define a European budget or financial perspectives for the forthcoming years".

Lastly, during the working visit, the subject of enlargement of the European Union was also touched on. Both Ministers pointed out that opening negotiations with Croatia was dependant on the full cooperation of this country with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.