Time for a fresh start But time is not on our side EU-US Gaps in Time The 2005 Spring Business Forum, EUROCHAMBRES Brussels, International Press Center, March 11, 2005 Professor Pavle Sicherl SICENTER and University of Ljubljana Copyright © P. Sicherl All rights reserved

Time is not on our side: The magnitude of the gap with the USA in dynamic terms is very large and growing The Lisbon Strategy provides a proper vision, but lacked realism and especially implementation Although Lisbon targets seem to be very ambitious, it remains wise to set high benchmarks and compare with the US Catching up, even the slowest scenario, will only come about with considerable EU improvement Time distance analysis presents an additional view, the gaps may be very different in static measures and in time, an important consideration for the Lisbon Strategy Namely, greater efficiency leading to greater dynamics could also contribute to greater cohesion and to alleviating the time distance dimension of inequality

Development is first and foremost a process of learning: We should learn from others in and outside the EU – set high benchmarks Knowledge based society needs reintegration of strategies of firms, social partners and policies in different fields (Lundvall 2000) The only EU country that was showing the relative performance of the magnitude needed for the EU to catch up with the US in GDP per capita by 2010 was Ireland. The underlying force for success was social consensus (Cogan 2001, McCarthy 2002) Where is the willingness for the needed reforms in most Member States, the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament?