November 21, 1999
Web posted at: 8:06 a.m. EST (1306 GMT)

FLORENCE, Italy (CNN) -- Leaders from Europe, the United States and Brazil met in Florence on Sunday to take on a topic that challenges all their center-left governments: how to promote liberal social policies without dampening economic growth.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Italy's Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso joined U.S. President Bill Clinton for the conference.

Sunday's conference was billed as an informal brainstorming session. At Saturday night's opening dinner, European Commission President Romano Prodi challenged the United States to match social achievements in Europe since 1945, particularly in the distribution of pay and opportunity.

Prodi, who led Italy's first leftist government from 1996 to 1998, said Europe should free its productive potential to better compete in global markets. "But our citizens do not want the European social model to be dismantled," he said.

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He urged Europeans to adopt new information technologies and invest in education and training to emulate the boom in jobs seen in the United States.

Clinton warned that advanced technology and open borders, which have helped Western nations expand their economies, can be two-edged swords.

"I believe the biggest problems to our societies in the 21st century will come not from rogue states or competing views of the world, but from the enemies of the nation-state -- from terrorists and drug runners and organized criminals, who I predict will increasingly work together and increasingly use the things that are promoting our prosperity," Clinton said.

For the U.S. president, the summit in Florence came after a riot-marred visit to Greece that ended with a security alert aboard the departing Air Force One. He is scheduled to continue his swing through southeastern Europe with a trip to Bulgaria late Sunday.

The leaders began work on Sunday with meetings in the Renaissance Palazzo Vecchio -- where Niccolo Machiavelli put together his thesis on the art of political cunning, "The Prince."

Blair and Schroeder have been particularly vocal about stimulating economic growth and freeing up the labor market while fighting for social justice, equal opportunities and human rights. The two leaders set out a kind of blueprint in May on the future of social democratic movements.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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