The Lisbon Process in the European Union: Lessons for Croatia ments and opinions on the origins of economic growth, usually praising the development of the information and communication technologies(ICT) and the Internet, which were acknowledged to have been essential for economic growth in the second half of 1990s. This context had remarkable influence on the priorities of the Lisbon Strategy as well as on its rhetoric. For this reason the development of the most competitive“knowledge-based economy” and “information society” were among its main objectives. After 2000 the strategy was widened including many additional- and sometimes competing- goals and assumptions and it was expected to cover three dimensions, economic, social and environmental. Such a multidimensional approach demonstrated the EU's admiration for social cohesion and environmentally sustainable development. As a result, the strategy, since its beginnings, became both ambitious and difficult to be implemented. Moreover, many key reforms fostered by the EU were successfully blocked by domestic political pressure and the influence of vested interests. The strategy of 2000 put the greatest emphasis on those factors connected with limited diffusion of ICT and innovation. It presented a relatively good account of the weak points of the EU economy caused by incomplete internal market development and particularly by strong barriers to product market functioning. Deficiencies in the functioning of financial markets were also presented quite successfully. But it addressed labour market weaknesses in only very general terms. On the one hand, it laid a great emphasis on the low level of human capital as a reason for the poor functioning of EU labour markets, but on the other hand, it failed to adequately discuss and address the institutional problems and tight regulations underlying labour market deficiencies, indicating only the high taxes deducted from salaries and making some suggestions concerning the role of a passive employment policy. Moreover the strategy produced only generalisations about the role of“the European social model” and evaded the question of its responsibility for providing ineffective solutions to labour market issues and making labour inflexible. Finally the strategy entirely omitted the issue of the negative influence of the level of employment protection on the level of unemployment, including structural unemployment, in the EU member states. The same pattern reappeared in the schedule for action planned by the strategy of 2000. The actions concerning support for ICT diffusion and reinforcement of inventiveness were well planned, while the reform aimed at improving the business environment was less satisfactory. Deregulation of network industries and financial market integration were successfully designed. Unfortunately, the 83