At his speech at the Brussels Economic Forum 2005, Professor Jagdish Bhagwati (New York Columbia University) talked about the “EUROPEAN DREAM”, so different than the “American dream”. Professor Bhagwati said that he had never heard before about such a dream: economic growth with the goal of becoming the most competitive economy in the world; but with a social cohesion policy, welfare, whilst protecting the environment. This is the “European dream”, a dream that too often seems to remain only a dream. During the Stakeholder Forum on Sustainable Development in April 2005, all participants agreed that it is not time for words but for actions and efforts to make the European dream true in its three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.

However, a lot of people think that the objectives of this dream are not always compatible. Different stakeholders  have different positions when they evaluate the European Sustainable Development Strategy and give very different recommendations on how it should be addressed, mostly when it comes to the weight given to each dimension.