Transcript EU2020 Strategy

EU 2020 strategy
Vasco Cal, BEPA
(Bureau of European Policy Advisers)
Committee of Regions
19 January 2010, Brussels
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Disclaimer
The views expressed are my own and do not
necessarily reflect those of the European
Commission.
The Commission launched a public consultation on
the future EU 2020 strategy (from 24.11.2009 to
15.01.2010)
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Outline
1.
A more political Europe –
President’s political guidelines
2.
Challenges Europe faces
3.
A vision for EU 2020
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political
Europe
We liveAinmore
extraordinary
times.
It is the worst
economic and financial crisis in decades. For
Europe, this is a moment of truth
 The alternatives are clear: a stark choice has to be
made. Either Europeans accept to face this
challenge together – or else we slide towards
irrelevance
 The European Union has had almost 60 years as a
laboratory
for
cross-border
supranational
cooperation, making it a natural champion of global
governance
 The European Union has the critical mass to
project our values and to defend our interests More
than ever, this requires a strong European Union
but… this does not mean more centralization of
powers in Brussels

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Global Europe
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- EU global assets:
EU is… the largest trading power,
The biggest donor of development
assistance,
A powerhouse of humanitarian aid,
A beacon of human rights,
A champion of the global fight against
climate change,
A leading partner on global responsible
financial regulation.
Challenges Europe faces (1)
In addition to globalization, there are four major
trends or evolutionary dynamics to consider:
 demographics or population dynamics;
 growth and development trends around the
world, leading to major shifts in the
geographical distribution global power;
 limited resources available on Earth; all people
and nations in the world share the global
surface with its limited resources and
environmental constraints;
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 technological change and innovation.
Challenges Europe faces (2)
 Europe
will promote its values and interests not
only in the immediate neighborhood; Europe
can become a true partner in leadership on the
global scale
 At multilateral level, in the UN context, with our
partners; engaging with emerging economies;
and credibly champion the cause of human
rights and development
The Lisbon Treaty introduced important and
helpful changes on external relations. What we
need now is more political will from Member
States – the European Council will have an
important role to play
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P
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A vision for EU 2020 (1)
 The
strategy will comprise a more convergent
and coordinated approach for the reform of the
European economies through investment in
new sources of growth.
The European project goes much further than
its economic dimension – based on values of
peace, human rights, freedom, justice and
solidarity
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A vision for EU 2020 (2)
Creating value by basing growth on knowledge: Opportunity
and social cohesion will be enhanced in a world where
innovation makes the difference in both products and
processes, harnessing the potential of education, research and
of the digital economy;
Empowering people in inclusive societies: The acquisition of
new skills, fostering creativity and innovation, the development
of entrepreneurship and a smooth transition between jobs will
be crucial in a world which will offer more jobs in exchange for
greater adaptability;
A competitive, connected and greener economy: The EU
should compete more effectively and increase its productivity
by a lower and more efficient consumption of non-renewable
energy and resources in a world of high energy and resources
prices, and greater competition for energy and resources. This
will stimulate growth and help meet our environmental goals.
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Making it happen (1)
We need a strategy for convergence and integration
which recognises more explicitly the advanced
interdependence of the EU:
– Interdependence between Member States;
– Interdependence between different levels of
government (EU, Member States, regions, social
partners - multi-layer governance);
– Interdependence between different policies, between
policies and instruments and the importance of policy
integration to deliver the overall objectives;
– Interdependence at global level – none of our Member
States is large enough to keep pace with the emerging
economies or to undertake this transformation alone.
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Making it happen (2)
The strategy will be pursued through a partnership
approach to deliver a limited set of key objectives.
Only through partnership can its specific actions and
objectives be achieved since action is essential at the
EU, national and regional levels, and the interplay
between these levels which will allow the strategy to
deliver its full potential.
The EU 2020 vision will need the active support of
stakeholders such as the social partners and civil
society. Its take up across all the regions of the EU will
also be crucial to its success and the Commission
would like to see national parliaments taking a
particular interest in this new strategy as it is
developed.
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EU 2020 in brief
 EU
2020 will be both a structural reform
strategy and an exit and recovery strategy
 Short term measures should be embedded in
the longer term objectives
 Better articulation, closer cooperation,
recognition of interdependence.
 The Lisbon Treaty gives us much greater
capacity to act e.g. article 121) and also to
achieve greater coherence in external action.
But without political will nothing will change.
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