Višnja Samardžija Based on the mid-term review recommendations, the renewed Lisbon Strategy was launched at the spring European Council in 2005, placing the main emphasis on knowledge, innovation and the optimisation of human capital. The key issues of the renewed strategy are growth and employment. Apart from this, the renewed strategy is directed towards enhanced ownership and greater coherence. Implementation is based on a partnership between the Commission and the member states, with the important role given to the Council and the other EU institutions. The programme for reforms was developed at the European level(the Community Lisbon Programme- CLP) and national levels(National Reform Programmes- NRPs). National Lisbon coordinators were appointed and the reporting system was simplified. National reform programmes are evaluated on a yearly basis, thus leading to recommendations for further development. The renewed Lisbon Strategy aims to increase the EU's ability to create jobs, to raise the capacity for growth through more investment into human resources and to ensure that Europe remains an attractive location for employment and investment. There are at least two ways to present the current reality of Europe- the black and the pink scenario. The black scenario could be summarised in a few elements, such as the ageing of the population due to the fact that Europe is becoming a“grey society”, old producers facing the challenge of adjusting and catching up with new world competitors, long-term unemployment, particularly for lower qualified people, and weak adaptation to ICT. On the other hand, the pink scenario is the other way of presenting the reality of the European economy. Its starting points are the positive elements in European reality, particularly in the areas where Europe is not performing badly, such as growth per working hour and multifactor productivity, the public debt, environmental situation, etc. Based on this, it could be concluded that the Lisbon Strategy is directed correctly, at least at the level of its diagnosis, which might bring the added value - the transformation into the knowledge-based society. On the other hand, the present economic situation in Europe has its positive and negative aspects. The message of the European institutions is unbalanced, and mostly negative. Black description with emphasis on disadvantages only has negative implications for public opinion, which needs not only a vision, but a positive perspective. In the history of European integration since 1950, the European institutions have never committed themselves to so many deep reforms. However, the action programme of the Lisbon Strategy is to a great extent insufficient. Resources are too limited, targets on non-economic aspects 12