1.1.7 Progress’ assessment of the Lisbon Strategy in the European Union

To attain the request of the Lisbon European Council in presenting an annual report on the progress achieved, the European Commission developed and published a set of 14 structural indicators.1 These indicators were meant to quantitatively evaluate the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy and to compare the performances of the member states in the areas of employment, innovation, economic reform, social cohesion and the environment (areas covered by the Lisbon Strategy). It was through the assessment of the Lisbon Strategy against the structural indicators, that it was possible to evaluate the progress of the Lisbon Strategy.

There are six structural indicators regarding CSR, three are social and the other three are environmental indicators. The social indicators are: at-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers by gender, which policy objective is combating poverty and social exclusion; Long-term unemployment rate by gender, which policy objective is to achieve full employment and combating social exclusion; and Dispersion of regional employment rates by gender, which policy objective is the economic and social cohesion. The environmental indicators are: Greenhouse gas emissions and Kyoto base year, which policy objective is to avoid/combat climate change and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol; Energy intensity of the economy, which policy objective is to achieve a more efficient energy use and the Volume of freight transport relative to GDP, which policy objective is to decouple the transport development from economic growth.

The Annual Progress Report was published every year by the European Commission. It included an assessment of the national and European progress of the Lisbon Strategy, and also an assessment of the National Reform Programmes of each of the member states analyzing their progress against the 14 structural indicators.2 The annual reports were meant to provide an accurate and updated overview of the progress within the member states.

The progress of the Lisbon Strategy was also subject of attention from many organizations. The Centre for European Reform developed the Lisbon Scorecard to regularly assess this progress.3 The Centre for European Reform declared in the assessment of the Lisbon Strategy in February 2009, that the Lisbon Scorecard’ initiative (The Lisbon Scorecard IX) “(…) has proved a disappointment.”4 The Centre for European Reform went further in its assessment and concluded that although a great number of Member States made progress towards achieving the targets set in 2000, none of these targets would actually be met in 2010. It recognized the value of the initiative underlying that the “the Lisbon targets provide an indispensable guide to the desirable direction of reform.” The Lisbon Council in support of the Lisbon Strategy also recognized its relevance for the up-coming future.