The European Union must affirm growth and employment as its top priorities and involve citizens more if it is to realise its ambition of becoming the world's most competitive economy, a draft report to EU leaders said.
The draft - drawn up by a team led by former Dutch Prime Minister Mr Wim Kok and obtained by Reuters news agency - also calls for a European Research Council to stimulate research investment.
It will serve as a basis for reviewing the EU goal to outpace the United States economy by 2010 - a strategy set in Lisbon four years ago and which outgoing European Commission president Mr Romano Prodi last week called "a big failure".
"Halfway to 2010 the overall picture is very mixed and much needs to be done in order to prevent Lisbon from becoming the synonym for missed objectives and failed promises," the report said.
The EU's enlargement to 25 members in May will also make some goals more difficult to reach, said the report, of which the final version is due for an EU summit on November 5th.
The report cited the employment rate, which has dropped by 1.5 percentage points due to enlargement and at 62.9 per cent is well below the 2005 interim target of 67 per cent.