The Lisbon Agenda sets the more immediate priority objectives of the EU for the period 2000-2010. It was agreed at the Lisbon Council in 2000 and includes the following vision: "To make the EU the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world capable of sustaining more and better jobs and with greater social cohesion." The EU Sustainable Development Strategy first adopted in Göteberg in 2001 forms the overall framework within which the Lisbon Strategy, with its renewed focus on growth and jobs, provides the motor of a more dynamic economy. The Sustainable Development Strategy and the Lisbon Strategy complement each other and recognise the role of economic development in facilitating the transition to a more sustainable society. The Lisbon Strategy is a commitment of the EU governments to concentrate their efforts on a single over-arcing goal, i.e., to bring about economic, social and environmental renewal in the EU. The Lisbon Strategy means that growth should be created on an ecologically and socially sustainable basis. The ten-year strategy has a number of specific goals including:
70% of the labour force to be in work in 2010;
60% of the female labour force to be in work in 2010;
55% of the labour force aged 55-64 to be in work in 2010;
investments in research and development to be 3% of GDP in 2010;
90% of children over the age of three to have access to childcare in 2010;
mainstream the promotion of social inclusion in Member State's employment, education and training, health and housing policies; and
develop priority actions addressed to specific target groups such as women, minority groups, children, the elderly, and the disabled.
The Lisbon Community Programme seeks to contribute to the overall economic and employment policy agenda by completing the internal market and by implementing common policies and activities that support and complement national policies. It concentrates on a number of key actions with high value-added by:
supporting knowledge and innovation;
removing obstacles to physical, labour and academic mobility;
developing a common approach to economic migration; and
supporting efforts to deal with the social consequences of economic restructuring.
The Lisbon European Council of March 2000 also asked Member States and the European Commission to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by 2010. Building a more inclusive European Union is an essential element in achieving the Union's ten year strategic goal of sustained economic growth, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.
In March 2006, the European Council adopted a new framework for the social protection and social inclusion process. The framework provided a new set of common objectives: Three overarching objectives and objectives for each of the three policy areas of social inclusion, pensions and health and long-term care. In relation to social inclusion, the objective stresses the need to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty and social inclusion through the improvement of access, the active promotion of social inclusion and by ensuring that policies are well co-ordinated.
The strategic priorities and proposed interventions as described in this Operational Programme are consistent with the renewed Lisbon Strategy and will contribute to economic, social and environmental renewal. While the European Social Fund will be the primary means of addressing this objective in Ireland, the ERDF will also contribute to social inclusion.
