The Maastricht criteria are currently not met by any member of the EU, while the Lisbon Agenda was well developed up to a point, but without providing an answer to the economic crisis, Romanian President Traian Basescu said during a conference on "Romania and the Europe 2020 strategy", organized by the office of the European Commission in Romania and the Group of Applied Economics on Friday. The conference was attended by President Basescu, European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos, EC office to Romania head Nicolae Idu, ministers, other top officials and business representatives.

What Traian Basescu said:

It is pleasant we started to have EU commissioners and former commissioners, we're starting to earn a history within the UnionIt would not be bad for Romania to have the courage to ask itself: how competitive can we be in the future if we remain within the parameters of social Europe. I look to tough competition between major global actors and I ask myself - are we capable in a social Europe to remain competitive against economies such as the US or China?I hope the EU 2020 agenda is one of the answers to that questions and provide a better ending than the Lisbon AgendaThe crisis situation eroded most of the Lisbon Agenda objectives especially in the area of employmentThe Maastricht criteria - we find that all states are not meeting them. The Lisbon Agenda was well developed up to a point but without an answer to the economic crisis. Its conclusion is what we see today: the level of unemployment has reached that of when the Agenda was launched, the fall of industrial production, lower GDP.Up until now, many politicians were blaming the European Commission. Now it's hard for them to find excuses for failing to reach Agenda objectivesthe Europe 2020 strategy is a useful instrument to accomplish necessary reforms. the Strategy may provide bett