EU unveils new blueprint, receiving mixed responses
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Mixed responses
Barroso said that the Europe 2020, unlike the "too ambitious and too detailed" Lisbon Strategy, is "ambitious and realistic."
He said that "the difference this time is that the EU appears ready for stronger economic governance."
To drive the new strategy at a national level, the European Commission will address country-specific recommendations to member states.
"We will also issue policy warnings in case of inadequate response," he said.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier that she was not keen on having these new Lisbon instruments in formal warnings used by the commission, adding that this could politicize the budget process.
Analysts said that the attitude of Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, might greatly affect enforcement of the new plan.
Guy Verhofstadt, leader of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats group in the European Parliament, said that the plan "offers some carrots but few sticks other than a possible warning from the Commission, which is unlikely to send a shudder down the spines of national finance ministries."
"I maintain that the European Commission, not the European Council, is best placed to set the targets, oversee performance and name and shame underperformers because member states will always lack the political will for self criticism," Verhofstadt said.
Some others questioned whether the EU had the tools to achieve its ambitious objectives.
"Looking at the targets, it looks like the tools to deliver are mostly at member-state level so it remains to be seen how far member states will match action to aspiration this time around," said the European Policy Center, a think tank in Brussels.
The new strategy will need endorsement by the European Council this month.
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