The Lisbon Strategy: a Framework for Social Reform Agenda in the EU in order to generate growth. Because of a lack of confidence and the feeling of insecurity, private investment and consumer demand have been too low, real wages decreased, particularly in Germany, and unemployment has not dimi­nished. Reforms have to be accompanied by investment and internal demand. Figures show that despite reforms in the last years, productivity was half of productivity rates in 1990-1996. Europe is also lagging behind the US(Table 1). Table 1: Comparison of the EU and the US(GDP growth, unemployment and inflation; 1994-2003) GDP growth Unemployment Inflation EU 2.1% 9.6% 2.2% US 3.2% 5.1% 1.9% Source: Eurostat So Europe has homework to do as far as growth is concerned in order to safeguard and create more and better jobs and to secure the social dimension of European integration. Economic growth depends on available inputs such as investment in human resources, capital investment, as well as growth in productivity. Because of ageing societies, economic growth will more and more depend on higher productivity and thus also on higher employment rates. There is, of course, still a long list of reforms Europe has to tackle, from the completion of the single market to ICTs penetrating every part of our economies. Structural reforms are keys to improving productivity in order to stimulate economic growth and prosperity. But, despite reforms, Europe has not achieved productivity gains. Europe had a productivity growth of 2.6% from 1990 to 1995. This figure went down to 1.3% in the period from 1996-2006 according to Deutsche Bank research. This is difficult to explain. It is clear that macroeconomic policy support for structural reforms has been too weak. The time for just calling for structural reforms is over. Very rightly the Council Conclusions 2005 insist on appropriate macroeconomic policies and improving business and consumer confidence in order to“durably bring growth up to its potential level”. 41