Diverse lidstaten halen deadline Lissabon-agenda niet (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Several member states will miss the European Commission's Saturday (15 October) deadline for submitting Lisbon Agenda action plans, but Brussels believes the scheme is on track to produce results next year.

The Lisbon Agenda calls on the EU to become the world's most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010.

Member states tried to breathe new life into the flagging process this March by calling for national ideas on how to boost economic growth and employment over the next three years in areas where the EU has no say, such as pensions and taxes.

Embassies are due to hand in their national plans, consisting of 30-40 page dossiers with statistical annexes, by the weekend, with EU experts flying back and forth to member states in the past few weeks to help finalise the texts.

France, Sweden and Denmark told EUobserver that they will not make the Saturday deadline however, while question marks hang over Germany and Poland as well.

Paris hopes to send in its document by the end of this month, Stockholm is aiming for 21 October and Denmark for the "next few weeks", citing delays over the late sitting of parliament and translation back home.

The commission said that the ambiguous political situation in Germany and Poland following last month's general elections is also likley to cause hold-ups.

Other countries are cutting it fine, with Helsinki set to approve its text on Thursday before sending it to Brussels on Friday and diplomats saying that the Saturday deadline will be widely taken to mean Monday instead.

UK presidency does homework

The UK, the Netherlands, Greece, the Czech republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia confirmed that they will get their plans in by the weekend however, with the Czech republic claiming to have had its text finished months ago.

Despite being late, Paris revealed that its paper will focus on creating more flexible rules for companies to hire and fire workers and setting up a new public institute for funding investment in nano- and bio-technologies and communications.

The Netherlands has drafted proposals to push up the retirement age from the current average of 60 or 61 years to 65, with Finland also aiming to tackle the issue of longer working lives in its document.

Greece plans to push down corporate taxation, while railway infrastructure will form one of Slovenia's priorities.

London's ideas are under wraps for now, but the UK presidency has already banged the drum for more investment in research and technology and a swing away from traditional industries such as agriculture in recent months.

Not legally binding

The Saturday deadline and the national action plans are not legally binding, but the commission believes there will be enough political and public pressure to see the reforms through.

"We do not have a legal hammer to hit member states with, it's a softer way of persuasion", commission enterprise and industry spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber indicated.

"This will create public expectations. We are very optimistic about this new approach", he added.

A steering group of experts from the commission's industry, financial and social affairs departments will analyse the national plans over the next two months before delivering its opinion in late January and studying national implementation reports next October.

Some member states are planning to move faster than Brussels however, with Paris aiming to get its nano-technology fund up and running before 2006.