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Key items for Financial Services
Council Conclusions on
The main focus of this new cycle should be on implementation and delivery of reform, acknowledging that more reforms are needed. The four priority areas of reform identified by the European Council in Spring 2006 continue to provide the right frame for the Strategy at both EU and national level: employment; knowledge and innovation; business potential; and energy and climate change.
Council Conclusions on Lisbon Strategy
Main results of the Council
The Council adopted conclusions on preparations for a new three-year cycle of the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs, including on integrated guidelines set at EU level for the member states' economic and employment policies.
Considering there to be no need for a major overhaul, the Council suggested that the focus of the new cycle should be on implementation and delivery, whilst acknowledging that further reforms are necessary. The four main priorities – namely employment; knowledge and innovation; business potential; and energy and climate change – continue to be valid. The new three-year cycle will start in 2008.
The Council adopted conclusions on statistics, covering information requirements under the EU's economic and monetary union (EMU), reduction of the statistical burden on businesses, governance in the field of statistics and the communication of major statistical revisions. It adopted a regulation on the provision of basic information on purchasing power parities under the European statistical system.
The Council also decided to renew for a further 12 months the EU's arms embargo against Uzbekistan and its visa ban on those responsible for the indiscriminate use of force during demonstrations in Andijan in May 2005.