Europe's attempts to overtake the United States as the world's most competitive economy are "a big failure", Romano Prodi, the outgoing European Commission president, said in an interview published on Monday.
Countries' use of national vetoes had blocked progress in spite of efforts by the Commission, Prodi told the Financial Times.
The EU set out in Lisbon four years ago to outstrip the US economy by 2010 as the world's most competitive economy, but few ministers, officials or outside observers believe that will happen, and some say the gap has actually widened.
"Lisbon is a big failure," Prodi said in the interview.
A team led by the former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok is set to report that Europe has fallen further behind the United States since 2000, the FT reported.
It will say Europe's efforts could become "a synonym for missed objectives and failed promises", the paper said, citing the report.
The Kok report is due to be presented to EU leaders at a November 5 summit as the basis for a mid-term review of the Lisbon process.
The FT said the report would ask EU states to draw up national action plans for reform with implementation monitored by the European Commission.
The EU should concentrate of 14 simple indicators to measure progress toward the Lisbon goal compared with the more than 100 indicators currently used.
"Lisbon is about everything and thus about nothing," the FT quoted the Kok report as saying.
But the report does not advocate scrapping the target of making the EU the most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010. "Ambition is needed more than ever. The 2010 deadline is important for signalling and reinforcing the urgent need for action," it said.
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