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Europe 2020 In 2010 EU finds itself in a middle of recession and crisis that has stampeded not only finance and economy, but put in doubt some of the common values and strengths of the Union. It appeared that EU does not possess timely and effective mechanisms to adequately respond the challenges and mitigate them. It was obvious that the Union needs new strategy that based on current situation, what has been done and has not been done from previous Lisbon strategy must determine what and how should be done in order to keep and develop its strength, competitiveness and common values. The new strategy Europe 2020, recently approved by the European Commission, is about what EU needs to do today and tomorrow to get Europe back on track. It sets out what Europe have to do now for the next 10 years, not what it should do in 10 years time. There is a certain sense of urgency in the strategy, because in order to achieve results in ten years time, Europe should start now. The current economic crisis is worse than anyone ever imagined. Economic realities are moving faster than political realities, as we have seen with the global impact of the financial crisis. Moreover the crisis has also exposed fundamental weaknesses and unsustainable trends within EU that should not be ignored any longer. Europe needs to accept that the increased economic interdependence demands a more determined and coherent response at the political level. That clearly makes the case for stronger economic governance in the European Union. Over the last twelve months, a huge amount of the growth and employment generated by the European economy over the last decade has simply been wiped away. That is why it spent much of 2009 avoiding a complete meltdown of the financial and economic systems. Now it is time Europe to figure out how it would climb out of this situation. . The aim of Europe 2020 is to restore Europe's growth potential and to make it again fully competitive on the global stage. In order to get there Europe needs to invest in structural change and structural growth, but not just in any kind of growth. It needs to invest in smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The European Commission President Barroso put a lot of emphasis on concentration of efforts: ‘We need to concentrate our efforts on the most important levers if we are to succeed – if we spread our efforts and our money too thinly we will not get the results we want. We have one chance to get this right.’ The strategy focuses on three mutually reinforcing priorities: • Smart growth by developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation. Put simply, it is about "re-booting" the internal market for the 21st century. • Sustainable growth by promoting a resource-efficient and competitive economy. • Inclusive growth by fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion. Europe needs to invest in its people so they can invest in Europe. To reach these priorities strategy sets out measurable and representative targets: • 75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed. • 3% of the EU's GDP should be invested in Research & Development. • The "20/20/20" climate/energy targets should be met and reduction of 30% should be reached if conditions are right. • The share of early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of the younger generation should have a tertiary degree –usually called high education degree • 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty. Europe 2020 has these concrete targets: on employment, on R+D, on climate and energy, on education and on fight against poverty. In order to deliver on these targets seven flagship initiatives to catalyze progress under each priority theme has been defined: • "Innovation Union" to improve framework conditions and access to finance for research and innovation so as to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs. • "Youth on the move" to enhance the performance of education systems and to facilitate the entry of young people to the labor market. • "A digital agenda for Europe" to speed up the roll-out of high-speed internet and reap the benefits of a digital single market for households and firms. • "Resource efficient Europe" to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources, increase the use of renewable energy sources, modernize transport sector and promote energy efficiency. • "An industrial policy for the globalization era" to improve the business environment, notably for SMEs, and to support the development of a strong and sustainable industrial base able to compete globally. • "An agenda for new skills and jobs" to modernize labor markets and empower people by developing their skills throughout the lifecycle with a view to increase labor participation and better match labor supply and demand, including through labor mobility; • "The European platform against poverty". It is not acceptable in the modern age that nearly 80 million people in Europe live under the poverty line. People experiencing poverty and social exclusion are enabled to live in dignity and take an active part in society. The EU 2010 was launched just on time to answer fundamental and the most important for its future questions. As such it is quite normal that it draws a lot of attention at European and national level. The fundamental discussion questions are mainly over the level of ambitions (feasibility) and the targeting itself. Most of the critics mention that Europe adopts a new strategy while the Lisbon strategy, which was supposed to make Europe the most dynamic and competitive knowledge based economy in the world, has clearly not met its objectives. In that sense some of the first official reactions were that it would be better for Strategy to set fewer, but clearer, more realistic and quantifiable targets. One must admit that the Lisbon Strategy failed due to the absence of efficient incentives and binding instruments at EU level. That’s why the question how Europe can create such instruments and make the member states to implement the strategy sounds quite legitimate, as far as failing to do so could open the room for political games and would deepen imbalances. European Parliament in its resolution from 10.03.2010 calls for stronger EU governance and urges the European Council to abandon the "open coordination method" based on the "exchange of best practices" and to use the Lisbon Treaty to coordinate better the economic reforms and action plans of Member States. The EU2020 strategy should focus on reducing unemployment, better coordinating economic policies, and beefing up economic governance with binding rules. According to MEPs EU funding should be conditional on results and compatibility with the aims of the strategy. Parliament asks the Commission to propose new measures, and possibly sanctions, to deal with Member States that do not implement the EU2020 Strategy and incentives for those that do so. As a first resort, with current GDP 4% down and unemployment at over 23 million, the EU2020 strategy must provide an effective response to the economic and financial crisis. Unemployment is now the core issue in discussion of the crisis. To combat high and growing unemployment, the EU must implement its ambitious social agenda, which includes fighting poverty, discrimination and social exclusion, keeping people at school longer and promoting lifelong learning. Youth unemployment needs to be tackled by providing more training possibilities and internships and the Commission is urged to table a strategy to this end. The mutual coherence of EU economic strategies, such as the Sustainable Development Strategy and the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), needs also to be improved. Then budgetary consolidation and economic policies must be closely coordinated to generate growth and jobs and ensure the Euro's future stability. There should be created mechanisms to safeguard the Euro's stability. Obviously there is a need for a strong EU supervisory structure for all financial institutions as well. The institutional interaction and synergy play a vital role for the success. Council and Commission should table proposals to complete the single market, and the Commission should do more to promote small and medium-sized enterprises, since it is they who create most jobs. Parliament has a key role and prerogatives in implementing the strategy. Parliament suggests that the EU institutions draw up a binding agreement to prevent the Council acting unilaterally. The new Union’s strategy would be a focal point for upcoming European Council on 25-26.03.2010. On the basis of the Commission's Europe 2020 communication, the European Council will be invited to agree on the general framework of the Union's new strategy for jobs and growth. In particular, it will be invited to finalise the governance of the strategy and agree on a limited number of EU-wide quantitative targets, which will subsequently be translated into differentiated national targets. In this context, the European Council will take stock of ongoing efforts by the European Union and its Member States to tackle the current economic crisis. Of particular importance in that respect are issues such as the implementation of coordinated exit strategies and progress, both at the EU and global level, in relevant fields such as financial supervision and regulation. Being timely and vital for the Union’s present and future, the new strategy has to overcome a lot of internal and external constrains and unsertainitess. The way the most developed countries takkle with the present crisis sometimes has a little to do with common principals. When their own production and workforce are endangered, we have witnessed a lot of protectionism, and first and most concerned victims were workers from other (mostly eastern) countries and out-of –country affiliated companies. Given the situation, such reactions seem legitimate as far as each government is directly responsible before its voters and population, but from the Union’s prospective there would be a challenge. On the other side, the new world economic and financial order and agenda have not yet been determined and it is a challenge to determin whether the way we take is a right one and whether it would take the Union to its propre place as one of the world leading economies. These and a lot of other questions should be answered and comprehensive and adequate measures should be taken in order EU2010 to achieve its goals. |
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