IN THE CHAIR: MR PΓTTERING President. In accordance with the tradition of spring summits, this one will also be devoted to economic issues, especially the Lisbon Strategy, as well as to climate change, energy and financial stability. We are all aware of the fact that the European Union is facing new challenges and that globalisation is bringing new opportunities, not only in the economic sphere but also in the social and cultural spheres. The European Union has already benefited from these opportunities.
We are also aware of the fact that globalisation requires the European Union and its Member States to adapt and to search for real answers. The Council will devote its attention precisely to that. The global economic environment is being tested at the moment. We have witnessed turbulent events in the financial markets. Recently we have witnessed a reduction in economic activity due to the recession in the United States and higher oil and commodity prices.
Despite all this, the economic foundations of the European Union are still solid; however, under these conditions, we cannot stop and relax, but must continue with our reforms. On this subject the European Council will evaluate the state of implementation of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Employment. It will welcome the positive results and confirm that this strategy is working well.
It will stress that we must now concentrate on implementation and, in this spirit, activate the new phase of the revised Lisbon Strategy. In the area of information and innovation, the European Council will give new impetus to our efforts to introduce the so-called fifth freedom.
This should eliminate the existing obstacles to the free flow of information by enhancing the cross-border mobility of researchers, students, scientists and university teaching staff. In our opinion, the fifth freedom should accelerate the transformation of the European Union into an innovative, creative and information-based economy. To strengthen the competitiveness of companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, the European Council is planning measures which will enable them to develop and operate more satisfactorily.
