Nederlands EU-voorzitterschap zal in teken staan van economische groei (en)

It's the economy stupid. That was the message from Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende yesterday (28 April) as he hinted at the priorities for the Dutch Presidency which begins on 1 July.

Speaking to journalists after dinner with French President Jacques Chirac, Mr Balkenende said, "We need to concentrate on the European economy because, if you compare it to the American economy, you can see that Europe is behind. We need a new strategy".

In fact, Europe already has such a strategy called - in Brussels jargon - the Lisbon strategy. The goal of this strategy is to make the EU the "most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010".

But this means taking over the US and the signs are that Europe is falling further behind America, not closing the gap.

A recent report by the World Economic Forum showed that only the Scandinavian countries are more competitive than the US and that Europe as a whole was a long way back.

Mr Balkenende also suggested that the EU needs to cut through some of the red tape that can hold back business, saying, "we need to lighten the administrative load in Europe because the business climate could be improved".