Public support for the project of European unification and the EU's influence in the world depend primarily on Europe's economic success. Europe is one of the richest regions in the world and this wealth appeals above all to its poorer neighbors. At the same time, Europe has also been one of the poorest-performing regions in terms of growth, which limits its ability both to exert influence overseas and to satisfy its citizens, particularly because unemployment and inequality have increased in the course of the integration process. Six years after the adoption of the Lisbon Strategy, then, the German council presidency faces the challenge of boosting Europe's economic dynamism. The EU's economic and social policy must resolutely pursue growth opportunities. It must therefore put an end to its strategy of cost and income reduction, driven by a senseless logic of competitiveness, in favor of a continuous increase in internal demand. The Lisbon Strategy - which in the meantime we can say has already failed - also pursues this logic and relies extensively on such supply-side goals as higher employment rates. In contrast, the EU needs a coordinated economic policy in which monetary policy is not exclusively directed towards stability, and with more public investment in innovative industries and a continuing expansion of consumption. In the case of Europe-wide imbalances between savings and investment, public investment should also be credit financed. The European social model strives towards a balance which must be protected from extreme and senseless competition. That applies both internally, through appropriate regulation of the internal market, and also externally, through corresponding initiatives in international trade, currency, social, and monetary policy. Europe's prosperity will be ensured by energetic support of up-and-coming industries. That means that the EU budget requires not so much the preservation of declining industries and regions as modernization. For example, there should be more investment in research and development and in education. At the same time, security of supply will be enhanced by a consistent strategy of energy saving and use of renewable energy. Long-term unprofitable branches and enterprises in sectors such as agriculture or textiles and clothing can be wound down in a controlled and socially responsible way. Various reforms and the pressure towards ever more open markets have improved the supply-side. Higher productivity, rising profits and the pressure on workers to accept worse working conditions must be accompanied by firm support for demand if the economy is not to end up in stagnation and impoverishment. Europe needs a coordinated monetary, fiscal and incomes policy which, particularly in the new, poorer member states, tolerates higher inflation rates and real appreciation in order to accelerate their catch-up processes and to improve consumption opportunities instead of taking inflation rates as an excuse to deny them euro entry. While the EU strongly opposes subsidizing enterprises on social or regional-policy grounds it allows member states to subsidize their enterprises in real terms through low taxes and wages. This tax competition can be countered, as a first step, by harmonizing the rules defining the tax base. Wage competition must be combated through regulations on the minimum wage which ensure every worker an income which is fair in relation to where they actually work and permits a decent standard of living. One-sided market integration penalizes social arrangements which favor more leisure time and public goods, and at the same time propagates income differentials, resulting in weaker mass purchasing power and subsequent underemployment. Growth and prosperity in Europe require supply-side productivity increases which are to be expected above all from specialization in the enlarged market and public provision of education and research.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]