EU2020: Research and development quality in Denmark

In the blog post EU2020: Denmark aims for high employment we saw that a high employment rate (75 per cent) is a headline target of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, but new reform efforts are needed to put the European Union as a whole on track.

Although somewhat dented during the crisis years, Denmark had 76.1 per cent of 20-64 year old employed, so the National Reform Programme (NRP) 2011 promises continued reforms in order to reach an employment rate of 80 per cent by 2020.

We return to the English version of the Danish Government's NRP in in order to see the plans concerning research and development:

Denmark's National Reform Programme (May 2011; 67 pages)


Research and development quality

For the EU as a whole, the EU2020 strategy aims at a quantitative target – 3 per cent of GDP – for research and development (R&D) and innovation activities by 2020, including both private and public investment.

Admittedly, this quantitative input measure is a bit primitive, but better than nothing. The European Union as a whole needs to catch up with the most innovative countries, states (USA) and regions in the world.

According to Eurostat, in 2009 the EU-27 R&D investment was just 2.01 per cent of GDP, but Denmark on 3.02 per cent had already reached the EU2020 target, third behind Finland (3.96%) and Sweden (3.62%).

The Danish research, development and innovation (RDI) strategy does not aim to throw more into the input basket, but it is focused on increasing the effectiveness of productivity in the field of research (NRP page 19).

The NRP Box 2.2 on page 20 presents new initiatives in the areas of research, development and innovation.


Annual Growth Survey

The European Commission presented its guidance for the final versions of the National Reform Programmes in its communication:

Annual Growth Survey: advancing the EU's comprehensive response to the crisis; Brussels, 12.1.2010 COM(2011) 11 final

The AGS made a few general points about research, development, innovation and competitiveness during tough times:

All Member States, especially those in excessive deficit procedure, should keep public expenditure growth firmly below the rate of medium term trend GDP growth, while prioritising sustainable growth friendly expenditure in areas such as research and innovation, education and energy (page 4).

Member States should simplify their regimes for the recognition of professional qualifications to facilitate the free circulation of citizens, workers and researchers (page 7).

To remain competitive in a globalised economy Member States must urgently begin the deep structural reforms needed to enhance the excellence of our research and our capacity to innovate, turning ideas into products and services that meet the demand of high-growth markets, taking advantage of the technological capabilities of our industry and helping SMEs to grow and internationalise (page 7).

In addition to budget priorities, the Danish government and the Commission point towards quality consciousness and RDI excellence in order to enhance competitiveness of European businesses.



Ralf Grahn

EU2020: Denmark aims for high employment

In the blog post Denmark: Competitiveness challenges we found slow productivity growth as well as high and rising wage costs among the major hurdles for the future of the Danish economy.

What does the National Reform Programme (NRP) tell us about growth-enhancing structural reforms in Denmark?

The Danish Government's NRP in English:

Denmark's National Reform Programme (May 2011; 67 pages)


Employment rate

The more people work, the more they pay taxes and social contributions. This is good for the budget balance, especially when the demand for social benefits decreases when people move into employment. The ”work first” principle of the Swedish government guides decisions not only on taxes and benefits, but practically every aspect of government policy.

The more successful societies seem able to mobilise more talent than the governments in the less competitive countries. Participation by women and real retirement ages are obvious factors, as are youth, people with an immigration background, the unemployed and various marginal groups.

Denmark is well known for its flexicurity model, but the government of the day promised further reforms in order to reach an employment rate of 80 per cent among 20-64 year olds by 2020 (page 14).

Denmark, like some of the other highly competitive EU member states, targets a clearly higher employment rate than the EU2020 headline target of 75 per cent.

According to Eurostat, the Danish employment rate 76.1 per cent already surpassed the EU end goal in 2010.

The European Union as a whole (EU-27), with an employment rate of 68.6 per cent, has a steep climb ahead of it to reach even the 75 per cent target by 2020.

The Danish NPR offers inspiration based on a constant stream of Initiatives to promote labour supply and employment (Box 2.1, pages 15-16).

The NPR of Denmark (page 17) found that the national efforts were in line with the Annual Growth Survey COM(2011) 11 from the European Commission, where the recommendations to mobilise the labour markets and to create job opportunities are found on the pages 5-7.

However, the AGS found that the European Union as a whole was going to miss the much lower headline goal of 75 per cent on existing trends, so there is a great need for effective labour market reforms in the EU member states.



Ralf Grahn

Denmark: Competitiveness challenges

After Productive and sustainable Denmark as seen by the World Economic Forum (WEF), we look at what Denmark has planned in order to become even more innovative and competitive, in line with the aims of Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.


National Reform Programme 2011

Last spring, in line with the European semester and the Annual Growth Survey, each EU member state submitted the final version of its National Reform Programme to the Commission. To a large extent the Danish NRP 2011 builds on the 39-page Danmark 2020 programme from February 2010:

Danmarks Nationale Reformprogram 2011 (Maj 2011; 65 pages)

Thanks to the English versions, the NRPs can be studied more widely:

The Danish Government: Denmark's National Reform Programme (May 2011; 67 pages)

The Introduction offers an overview of the NRP contents:

 Chapter 1 deals with the overall framework for the Danish economy based on the 2020 Plan.
 Chapter 2 focuses on the Danish national targets which will contribute to fulfilling the Europe 2020 strategy and strategies for meeting the targets.
 Chapter 3 identifies the structural bottlenecks for growth in Denmark.
 Chapter 4 describes the inclusion of relevant ministries and non governmental organisations relevant for the Europe 2020 strategy, including their involvement in the drawing up of the national reform programme.

Competitiveness challenges

After presenting the macroeconomic background, the Danish NRP moves on to more specific issues of competitiveness. These reveal a number of challenges to Denmark's future prosperity. Two major ones:

The programme noted that between 1999 and 2009 Denmark recorded the second-lowest annual rate of productivity growth among the OECD countries.

Wage costs in Denmark have risen more than in Germany and elsewhere abroad during a number of years. In the Danish manufacturing industry wage costs are higher than in all other OECD countries except Norway.



Ralf Grahn

European Council: ”Ambition and additional efforts”

In the blog post 'European Council Res Gestae (SGP & EU2020)' 29 June 2011, we looked at how the great men recorded their deeds with regard to the Stability or Convergence Programme and the National Reform Programme (NRP) of each EU member state.

In the entry 'European semester: ”More of the same” (European Council)' 1 July 2011, we noted that the summit gave its approval to the new planning instrument and prepared the road for future rounds (paragraph 1).

The blog post also tried to provide interested readers with relevant materials for further study.

We return to the relevant conclusions of the European Council, wrapping up the first new style planning cycle called the European semester (pages 2 to 4):

European Council 23/24 June 2011: Conclusions (EUCO 23/11; 16 pages)

For those who want a detailed, but clear overview of the issues of economic governance in the European Union, I recommend the memorandum mentioned in the previous blog post:

EU Economic governance: a major step forward; 31 May 2011, MEMO/11/364


Progress and challenges

The second paragraph of the European Council conclusions referred to the assessment by the Commission:

2. Based on the assessment provided by the Commission, the European Council discussed the policies and measures presented by Member States. These constitute a good starting point for sustaining Europe's recovery, for addressing fiscal challenges and for driving more ambitious reforms at national level. The European Council notes the clear determination of all Member States to do everything that is required to fully implement the Stability and Growth Pact. Member States have made good progress in defining action to attain the headline targets and goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy for jobs and sustainable growth. Some of the targets are on track but others (concerning employment, energy efficiency, R&D, poverty and tertiary education) require additional efforts. Priority should also be given to ensuring a sound macroeconomic environment, restoring fiscal sustainability, correcting macroeconomic imbalances and strengthening the financial sector.

Country-specific recommendations

The press release 'Delivering on growth and jobs: Commission presents 2011 country-specific recommendations' (7 June 2011 IP/11/685) was published in 22 languages, containing advice for the coming twelve to eighteen months.

There is one set of recommendations for the eurozone as a whole and 27 ones for the individual EU member states.

The memorandum published in the working languages of the Commission, English, French and German, provides more information, including on the papers published:

2011 Country-Specific Recommendations in the context of the European Semester: Frequently Asked Questions (7 June 2011 MEMO/11/382).

The memo explained why five countries received only one recommendation each:

Specific recommendations have not been addressed to the five Member States in receipt of financial assistance from the EU and IMF: euro area countries Greece, Ireland and Portugal and non-euro area countries Latvia and Romania. The assistance these countries are receiving is tied to the fulfilment of ambitious, tailored policy programmes focused on fiscal consolidation and structural economic reforms. The priority for these five Member States is to implement the programme as agreed, hence the single recommendation for each of them to do so.

For the same reason, Portugal and Greece have not submitted Stability Programmes this year.

The memo contains general observations about the Stability or Convergence Programmes and the National Reform Programmes (EU2020), as well as procedural information.

On the face of it, we can see that the European Council conclusions were more or less in line with the Commission findings at a general level, acknowledgeing the national programmes, but calling for more ambitious measures with regard to both public finances and Europe 2020 reforms.


Ecfin web page

On a single web page 'Stability and Convergence programmes (or updates) and National Reform Programmes 2011...', the European Commission's DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) manages to provide links to Stability or Convergence Programmes, National Reform Programmes, Commission Staff Working Papers and Commission Recommendations. We are still waiting for the Council to adopt its formal recommendations, following the benign nod from the European Council.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Yesterday, Poland took over the presidency of the Council (of ministers) of the European Union.

Stability, convergence and EU2020 compliance: EU member states and Commission

The spring meeting of the European Council 24 to 25 March 2011 (EUCO 10/11, paragraph 2 and footnote 1) outlined the the next steps within the framework of the European semester and endorsed the the priorities for fiscal consolidation and structural reform ”in line with” the Council's conclusions of 15 February and 7 March 2011 and further to the Commission's Annual Growth Survey, while also referring to the synthesis report of 16 March 2011 by the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The conclusions of the Ecofin Council (Economic and Financial Affairs) 15 February 2011 on the European Semester stated that the Stability and Convergence Programmes and National Reform Programmes for the period 2011/2012 were to be submitted by the EU member states preferably by mid-April or end April at the latest (paragraph 1).

During our pre-deadline peek on 22 April 2011 we found both programmes, but mainly in the national languages, from four countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland) plus the Stability programme of Slovenia posted on the web pages of DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) of the European Commission.

The next day we looked for updates on the website of the Europe 2020 strategy, but found none.

However, by searching for documents from the EU member states, we unearthed and provided links to the posted language versions of the first Stability Programmes, Convergence Programmes or National Reform Programmes stashed away on the website (Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium and Hungary).

We also provided direct links to the different language versions of the programmes posted on the Ecfin web page.

In part, different sets had been posted on the two Commission websites. At the time, even after combining the EU2020 and Ecfin websites, we still had no programmes from 21 out of 27 EU member states, and only one programme each from two of the six countries posted on the websites of the European Commission. Only Hungary and Finland offered both programmes in English.


Submission deadline

We have passed the 30 April 2011 deadline and we have entered what the Elisabethan writer Thomas Dekker called ”The Merry Month of May”.

The final version of the Stability Programme of each eurozone country or the Convergence Programme from each EU member progressing towards euro adoption, plus the National Reform Programme for every member, is its main contribution towards fulfilling its obligations according to the Stability and Growth Pact, the European Semester and the growth-enhancing reforms in line with the EU2020 strategy.

The drafts were submitted last autumn, but have been under wraps. It is high time for the European public to be able to access the final programmes, the new language versions (especially English) and possible related improvements and updates on the EU2020 and Ecfin websites.


Europe 2020 improvements and updates

The latest updates on the EU2020 website are press releases from the Commission.

If we search for Latest documents, the last addition is from 25 March 2011, namely a link to the conclusions of the [European] Council, which include the agreed text on the Euro Plus Pact.

In other words, the Commission has not improved its presentation since our latest visit.

In my humble opinion, on a pan-EU website such as Europe 2020, all the EU institutions and the member states should be treated on an equal basis.

Forewarned, or inspired enough to search for Member states' documents, you find six NRPs added to the ones we found on our previous visit: from Poland (in Polish), Lithuania (in English), Luxembourg (in French), the Czech Republic (in Czech), Ireland (in English) and the United Kingdom (in English).

Eight National Reform Programmes out of 27 EU member states, but only four programmes in English.


Ecfin improvements and updates

Through the Ecfin web page 'Stability and Convergence programmes (or updates) and National Reform Programmes 2011 – programmes received to date' we find thirteen Stability or Convergence programmes and nine NRPs, but most English versions are not yet available.

The DG Ecfin offers a dedicated web page and the available programmes can be seen at a glance. In addition to the submitted programmes, the page contains space for the later stages: Staff Working Paper, Commission recommendation and Council recommendation.

Clearly, someone has done some thinking. Perhaps the people responsible for the Europe 2020 strategy and website could pay a visit.

The missing Swedish version of the NRP from Finland I remarked about has not been added in the meantime.

***

Hopefully, we are going to see improvements within the next few days, by the EU member states as well as the Commission, because the deadline for proposed recommendations is approaching (late May, early June).



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Infopolitics.eu is a public service dedicated to news and opinion concerning netizens' rights and freedoms. It is a joint project by the Greens-EFA in the European Parliament and Piratpartiet.

Europe 2020: National Reform Programmes posted

Yesterday we noted that the Stability or Convergance programmes and National Reform Programmes 2011 from Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland had been posted on the web pages of DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) of the European Commission. In addition, there was the Stability programme of Slovenia.


EUROPE 2020

In this blog post we look for possible updates on the website of the Europe 2020 strategy. No updates are visible on the EU2020 front page.

You do not find them even under latest documents, but if you are inspired enough to search for member states' documents, you can find the first national programmes stashed away on the Europe 2020 website.

I do not know why the presentation has to be as discreet as this.

I do not understand why we find a slightly different set of documents on the EU2020 pages than the ones posted on the Ecfin pages.

Anyway, here are the six programmes you find if you look for member states' documents through the Europe 2020 pages right now.


Germany

The German National Reform Programme, in German:

Nationales Reformprogramm Deutschland 2011; Berlin 6. April 2011 (about 46 pages)


Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Convergence Programme and National Reform Programme, in Bulgarian:

(Bulgaria: Convergence Programme 2011-2014)

(Bulgaria: National Reform Programme 2011-2015)


Belgium

Belgium's National Reform Programme has been posted on the EU2020 website in French and in Dutch:

Programme national de réforme Belgique 2011; 15 avril 2011 (128 pages)

Nationaal Hervormingsprogramma België 2011; 15 april 2011 (121 pages)


Hungary

Both the Hungarian Convergence Programme and the National Reform Programme have been posted on the Europe 2020 web pages, in English:

Convergence Programme of Hungary 2011 – 2015 Based on the Széll Kálmán plan; Budapest, April 2011

National Reform Programme of Hungary Based on the Széll Kálmán Plan; April 2011 (86 pages)


ECFIN

Nine programmes in all have been posted on the Ecfin website (DG Economic and Financial Affairs).

Let us just fill in the missing programmes and versions.


Belgium

The Stability Programme from Belgium is not yet available in English, but we have versions in the national languages, Dutch and French:

Het Stabiliteitsprogramma van België (2011-2014); version 14 April 2011

Le programme de stabilité de la Belgique; version 14 April 2011


Slovenia

The Stability Programme of Slovenia is available, in Slovenian:

Program stabilnosti Dopolnitev 2011; Ljubljana, april 2011


Finland

SP

The Stability Programme of Finland is available in English, Finnish and Swedish:

Stability programme update for Finland 2011

Suomen vakausohjelman tarkistus 2011

Uppdatering av Finlands stabilitetsprogram

NRP

The National Reform Programme (NRP) of Finland has been given another heading, with the English and Finnish versions posted on the Ecfin page:

Europe 2020 Strategy – Finland's National Programme Spring 2011

Eurooppa 2020 -strategia – Suomen kansallinen ohjelma, kevät 2011

We can find the missing Swedish version through the web pages of the Finnish Ministry of Finance, concluding a full set:

Europa 2020-strategin – Finlands nationella program, våren 2011


Missing links

Even after combining the EU2020 and Ecfin websites, we still have no programmes from 21 out of 27 EU member states, and only one programme each from two of the six countries posted on the websites of the European Commission. Only Hungary and Finland offer both programmes in English.

A few working days remain until the end of April, when the programmes are due at the latest.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Jon Worth, one of the best known and most widely read Eurobloggers, has returned with a number of interesting blog posts within a few days. Highly recommended.

European Council: More ambitious reforms from EU member states?

In a series of blog posts I corralled the latest entries published on my four blogs and in three languages: Grahnlaw (EN), Grahnblawg (SV), Eurooppaoikeus (FI) and Grahnlaw Suomi Finland (EN, FI, SV).

The practices of the European Council and possible reform of this (now) official EU institution, as well as the conclusions of the spring summit regarding economic policy, sustainable public finances and growth-enhancing Europe 2020 reforms were discussed in the articles mentioned. This latest compilation, divided into five parts, covered blog posts published between 25 March and 9 April 2011: One, Two, Three, Four and Five.


Inspiration from spring European Council?

Guidance from the spring European Council was intended to inspire possible improvements in the final versions of the Stability Programme or Convergence Programme and in the National Reform Programme (NPR) of each member state.

However, the economic policy paragraphs (2 to 5) we have looked at in the conclusions were sketchy enough to add no new substance to earlier Integrated Guidelines, EU2020 headline targets, the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) from the Commission, or conclusions from different Council configurations (summarised in the synthesis report by the Hungarian Council presidency):

European Council 24/25 March 2011; Brussels, 25 March 2011 (EUCO 10/11; 34 pages)

If the paragraphs concerning the implementation of the European Semester contained no added value, they did not visbly detract from the goals, proposals and conclusions mentioned.

The European Council conclusions clearly endorsed public deficit reduction (paragraph 3) and they backed structural reforms in a number of wide areas (paragraph 4), plus they reiterated the next steps in accordance with European Semester procedures (paragraph 5).

In this respect, the conclusions by the spring European Council could be described as neutral.

Beside the EU level EU2020 Flagship initiatives and Single Market reform, the concrete actions to reduce public deficits and debt levels to tolerable levels and to reform product and labour markets are in the hands of the EU member states, and the previously agreed targets are general enough to offer as much room as national governments need (and much more than most of them are willing or able to contemplate).

In addition, higher levels of ambition are expressed elsewhere in the European Council conclusions.


Euro Plus Pact

Single Market reform, free trade agreements, the proposed ”six-pack” legislation on economic governance and (more rigorous) new stress tests of banks received complementary backing from the European Council.

The European Council also took a step towards establishing the new and permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM), intended to replace the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) in providing external financial assistance to euro-area Member States after June 2013. (See EUCO 10/11 Annex II.)

However, the higher reform ambitions we spoke about were expressed in the Euro Plus Pact, with Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania joining the 17 euro area states in order to enhance competitiveness and convergence. An annual cabal of heads of state or government is supposed to bring additional national commitments to the table. (See EUCO 10/11 Annex I.)

The goals are wide enough to house almost any economic reform plans and pledges:

§ Foster competitiveness
§ Foster employment
§ Contribute further to the sustainability of public finances
§ Reinforce financial stability

Concrete new reform commitments?

The first batch of more ambitious commitments is supposed to find its way into the national programmes due in April (EUCO 10/11 paragraph 12):

12. The Member States that have signed up to the Pact are committed, on the basis of the indicators and principles it contains, to announce a set of concrete actions to be achieved within the next twelve months. A number of Member States have already announced first commitments. All participating Member States will present their commitments as soon as possible and in any event on time for their inclusion in their Stability or Convergence Programmes and National Reform Programmes to be submitted in April and for their assessment at the June European Council.

I have seen no EU level compilation of first commitments already announced. At least the National Reform Programmes (NRPs), if not the Stability and Convergence Programmes, should start appearing on the Commission's web pages for the Europe 2020 strategy, but this morning the search for member states' documents still returns zilch.

The DG Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecfin) pages with the Stability and convergence programmes concern the 2009-2010 round (last update 6 October 2010), so we remain in waiting mode at EU level with regard to final versions 2011.

Naturally, for more energetic souls there is the opportunity to scout for the programmes government by government (and a few updates have appeared during the last days), but I leave systematic search along this avenue to the more ardent researchers.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. Eva en Europa, by Eva Peña (on Twitter @evaeuropa), is one of the top Euroblogs and a fine representative of the lively Spanish scene of citizen-bloggers dedicated to European affairs. She writes reasoned posts with a long shelf-life, mainly in Spanish, but has published occasionally in English and Catalan.

EU: “European Semester” towards economic stability and growth?

Yesterday’s blog post, EU: From Monti report to Single Market Act, observed that the European Commission is going to publish its work programme (CWP) for 2011 and a Single Market Act, both during this month of October.




On the central Commission website for the Europe 2020 strategy, there is a document of interest for those who work with or monitor the processes at European, national or corporate level: Governance, tools and policy cycle of Europe 2020 (8 pages).

The document describes how the five headline targets for the European Union will be translated into national targets by the member states, leading to National Reform Programmes (NRPs). It also describes the Commission’s work to launch seven growth-enhancing flagship initiatives at EU level.

The instruments of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP; Stability and Convergence Programmes, SCPs) and the Europe 2020 (EU2020) growth strategy will be aligned, with the “European Semester” as a headline concept for the process. They are based on three integrated strands:


1. Macro-economic surveillance (numbers 1 to 3 of the Integrated Guidelines)
2. Monitoring of growth-enhancing reforms (numbers 4 to 10 of the Integrated Guidelines)
3. Fiscal surveillance under the Stability and Growth Pact.


In January the Commission will publish an Annual Growth Survey with both a review and a forward-looking part, in good time before the spring meeting of the European Council (normally late March).

The different Council configurations will provide input for the European Council and monitor developments all year round.

Both reports (NRPs and SCPs) should be fully integrated within the national budgetary procedure.

The guideline document outlines the timetable and the shift towards the “European Semester”, a more coherent framework towards economic stability and growth.

However, the EU member states wasted the Lisbon Strategy decade. This taught us that more than pious goals are needed if Europe wants to become a dynamic player in the world economy and create real jobs for its young and old during EU2020.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments keeps skyrocketing. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.



It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across linguistic and national borders. We can link to blogs and other sources in foreign languages and share different viewpoints with our readers, perhaps explaining the gist of the arguments. Check multilingual Bloggingportal.eu to get a grip on the discussions.

Another opportunity is to invite comments in different languages, those we are able to read or by using machine translation to understand the essentials.

Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.

European strategy for jobs and growth: Credible implementation? (European Council 17 June 2010)

In the previous blog post we saw the European Council 17 June 2010 confirm the five headline targets of the Europe 2020 strategy.

In addition, the European Council politically endorsed the integrated guidelines for economic and employment policies (Conclusions point 3, page 3):

The guidelines will continue to be the basis for any country-specific recommendations that the Council may address to Member States. These recommendations shall be fully in line with relevant Treaty provisions and EU rules and shall not alter Member States' competences, for example in areas such as education.

After the wasted Lisbon strategy decade, is this going to ensure real growth-enhancing reform in the member states, especially those with the worst track record and the greatest need?

How is it going to be different between now and 2020?



National Reform Programmes

According to the European Council, the National Reform Programmes (NRPs) are – as before – the main vehicle to turn words into action. Regular review was part and parcel of the Lisbon strategy, so are there indications of credible improvement?

The conclusions of the European Council state (point 4, page 3):

Member States must now act to implement these policy priorities at their level. They should, in close dialogue with the Commission, rapidly finalise their national targets, taking account of their relative starting positions and national circumstances, and according to their national decision-making procedures. They should also identify the main bottlenecks to growth and indicate, in their National Reform Programmes, how they intend to tackle them. Progress towards the headline targets will be regularly reviewed.

Ecofin overview




The preceding conclusions by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) on 8 June 2010 on the European 2020 strategy go some way towards offering a picture of the whole and updating information on the state of play (document 10881/10).

Ecofin presented a summary of what the Europe 2020 strategy is about (point 2, page 2):

At the core of the new strategy is a framework for enhanced co-ordination of Member States' economic policies building on widened country surveillance which covers all relevant macroeconomic and structural policy areas in an integrated fashion. This strengthened framework should facilitate the immediate launch of exit strategies and address the urgent need for fiscal consolidation both in the short and over the medium term, through growth-friendly budgetary consolidation strategies focused on expenditure restraint, and be combined with the implementation of long-term policies to tackle bottlenecks to growth.

Ecofin mentions widened, enhanced, strengthened, reinforced and more integrated coordination of economic policies and the Europe 2020 strategy, but are we able to discern decisive new factors ensuring future success?



Seeing is believing

After the Lisbon strategy, the joint credibility account of the member states, the Council and the European Council is in overdraft.

The European Council’s conclusions on the new European strategy for jobs and growth, including the Europe 2020 strategy and the integrated guidelines for economic and employment policies, fall short of changing the perception.

I am ready to believe in improved surveillance, when I see concrete reforms put into practice.



In his invitation letter to the heads of state or government, president Herman Van Rompuy promised to outline to some ideas on what the forthcoming meetings of the European Council should achieve, in order to optimise their preparation.

Can we expect fresh “impetus”?




Ralf Grahn

EU’s proposed BEPGs (broad economic policy guidelines)

Procedure and context were discussed in the blog entry Adopting EU broad economic policy guidelines (BEPGs) (9 June 2010).

The Ecofin Council approved a report on the BEPGs to the European Council 17 June 2010:



Report to the European Council on broad economic policy guidelines (document 10262/10; 20 pages)


The Recommendation on the BEPGs is linked with the coming Council Decision on the guidelines for employment policies. Legally, they are two distinct documents, but together they form the ‘Europe 2020 integrated guidelines’.


Here is an overview of these ‘Europe 2020 Integrated Guidelines’:

Guideline 1: Ensuring the quality and the sustainability of public finances

Guideline 2: Addressing macroeconomic imbalances

Guideline 3: Reducing imbalances in the euro area

Guideline 4: Optimising support for R&D and innovation, strengthening the knowledge triangle and unleashing the potential of the digital economy

Guideline 5: Improving resource efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases

Guideline 6: Improving the business and consumer environment and modernising the industrial base in order to ensure the full functioning of the internal market

Guideline 7: Increasing labour market participation and reducing structural unemployment

Guideline 8: Developing a skilled workforce responding to labour market needs, promoting job quality and lifelong learning

Guideline 9: Improving the performance of education and training systems at all levels and increasing participation in tertiary education

Guideline 10: Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty

The Council proposes that the BEPGs (Guidelines 1 to 6) are in force until 2014 without change. The member states design national reform programmes (NRPs) consistent with the ‘Europe 2020 integrated guidelines’.




Ralf Grahn