Europe 2020: “Smart, sustainable and inclusive Growth” as new strategic goal for the EU

The European Commission has presented its proposal for the post-Lisbon strategy today, which will be discussed by the European Council on 25/26 March.

The Commission has proposed three priorities:

• Smart growth: developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation.
• Sustainable growth: promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy.
• Inclusive growth: fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion.

To this end, the Commission proposes the following EU headline targets:

• 75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed.
• 3% of the EU’s GDP should be invested in R&D.
• The “20/20/20″ climate/energy targets should be met (including an increase to 30% of emissions reduction if the 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.
• 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty.

You can find the official Europe 2020-website of the European Commission here.
A policy summary and first statements on the proposal can be found here.