Lisbon Strategy unobtainable, while Belka says tax harmonization must wait

This country is unable to carry out all the goals of the Lisbon Strategy, which envisages turning the EU into an equal competitor with the USA by 2010, and thus it has asked for changes to be made to some of the requirements. This was one of the topics discussed during the Second Congress of the Polish Forum of the Lisbon Strategy in Warsaw, which included guests such as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Polish EU Commissioner Danuta Huebner. Representatives from this country called for revising the tri-pillar strategy of merging economic, social and environmental goals, which at present is simply too expensive for this country to achieve. "We should harmonize direct tax levels within the EU, which does not, however, mean equaling them," said Schroeder. Prime Minister Marek Belka congratulated the German Chancellor on the development level of his country and promised that it would be easier to discuss tax harmonization once this country reached a similar level. (Puls Biznesu, p. 14; Parkiet, p. 6) M.M.