COURTESY TRANSLATION
Dear Colleague,
It is with great pleasure that I invite you to the Lisbon summit on 18 and
19 October 2007.
Since the opening of the Intergovernmental Conference, on 23 July 2007, the
Portuguese Presidency has been working with all Member States on drafting the final
text of the future Treaty. We have adhered strictly to the terms of the mandate adopted
at the last European Council meeting and, as a result of our discussions, on
3 October 2007 we presented a text which has brought us closer to our objective.
Reaching agreement on the final text of the future Treaty is the challenge I am
presenting for the Lisbon meeting. This is a fundamental issue for Europe. Adopting
the text of the Reform Treaty means not only that the European Union will be able to
concentrate its efforts on questions which more directly affect and concern its citizens,
but also that it will be able to do so more efficiently.
A complete answer to those questions will undoubtedly require greater commitment to
the agenda of modernising Europe’s economies and societies which is provided by the
Lisbon Strategy.
However, the challenges facing us are increasingly global. It is essential to take action
at regional, national and European level, but that action will not be complete without a
global component. The success of Europe depends on what we manage to achieve
together both internally and externally. Together we must succeed in offering a more
ambitious response to globalisation, while fully assuming Europe's responsibilities in
the new world order which is taking shape.
For that reason, I wish to take advantage of the Lisbon meeting to discuss how to
develop the external dimension of the Lisbon Strategy. I have asked the President of
the European Commission to give a presentation at our meeting, based on the document
"The European interest: Succeeding in the age of globalisation", which will help
structure our discussion and to propose some lines of thought in this area.
In this context, there are two specific subjects of particular importance and relevance
which I believe we should tackle in our informal discussions: the financial markets and
the political response to the turbulence in the sub-prime mortgage market; and climate
change, with a view to the ministerial meeting in Bali in December 2007.
I believe that these subjects are important and I hope that we will have a fruitful debate.
I am however well aware that the agenda is ambitious and time is short, especially
because my main priority will be to secure agreement on the future Treaty.
In view of the informal nature of the summit, except for the period when we will meet
formally as an Intergovernmental Conference, there will be no formal written
conclusions. At the close of the summit I will present some informal oral conclusions,
which will provide the basis for my statements to the press.