Neven Mimica inflows into knowledge intensive sectors from where new knowledge can be diffused throughout the overall economy. Economic development in all parts of Europe must be a top priority for policy makers across the continent, as this will enhance overall economic integration and prosperity. Relocation forms part of that process and will in due course be seen for what it is, namely as highly beneficial for the realisation of the ideals of an integrated Europe as a whole. Social and economic consequences of relocation are to be brought into close connection with the Lisbon Agenda. Success in implementing the Lisbon goals seems to be crucial for addressing and rectifying negative impacts of relocation on outsourcing economies. More jobs and more growth, if achieved under the Lisbon Agenda, would definitely ease social and political hardships that the transfer of production would bring to a certain country or region. Richer European countries with higher wage levels, more elaborate social protection and often a more established labour market, complain of domestic companies moving all or part of their production to countries with lower wages, less social protection and less regulated labour markets. Relocation may, at least temporarily, lead to considerable individual and social hardship and suffering, as a town or region may lose a vital source of employment and income. This social aspect of the relocation process must never be neglected. Solidarity in coping with negative social impacts of globalisation and relocation must be further promoted not only at the national economic policy level, but also at the multilateral level of the EU. A proposal of the European Commission to set up a “globalisation adjustment fund” goes along these lines. New EU members and candidate countries are certainly interested in continuation of relocation flows, because they regard it as an additional corporate-based development assistance that makes European economic cohesion easier. They perceive relocation as an important contribution to their overall development and catching up with developed countries. And indeed, the attractiveness of their economies was created by implementing some harsh reforms that must be sustained. Though relocation could be considered a concrete manifestation of globalisation, technological restructuring, and the almost natural tendency for companies to allocate their investments optimally, governments have to find a proper answer to the macroeconomic and microeconomic challenges opened up by relocation. The answer to the relocation hardships of sending countries should not be an administrative ban on this genuinely unstoppable process. 166