ATHENS, April 16 - European Commission President Romano Prodi said on Wednesday that economic policies were not yet being coordinated closely enough in the European Union. "We do not yet have sufficiently close coordination of our economic policies to properly fine-tune the motor for our growth and overcome the scourge of unemployment and poverty," he said in the text of a speech prepared for delivery at the signing of the Treaty of Accession. EU leaders are meeting in Athens to sign the treaty, which will open their bloc to 10 new members.
Prodi also said that the EU had a long way to go to achieve the goals it had set itself at Lisbon three years ago, when it laid out its ambition to become the most dynamic economy in the world while promoting social and environmental goals. "At Lisbon we adopted a strategy for growth based on knowledge, solidarity and respect for the environment. But we still have far to go before we fully mobilise our societies' human and technological potential."//