Seminar of the Social Platform

26 June 2014

Marcel HAAGSecretariat-General of the European Commission

Head of Unit "Europe 2020, European Semester, Economic Governance"

THE MID-TERM REVIEW OF THE EUROPE 2020 STRATEGY

Outline

1. State of play on the Europe 2020 strategy

2. Towards the mid-term review of the strategy: the public consultation on Europe 2020

3. Next steps

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State of play on the Europe 2020 strategy

Developments since 2010 show a mixed picture, with positive advances in a number of areas being offset by several persisting challenges, especially as a consequence of the crisis.

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A number of encouraging developments…

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• A gradual recovery gaining ground after a deep recession

Real GDP growth (%)

forecast

Source: European Commission

… but the persistence of challenges

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• Unemployment and the social impact of the crisis

• High levels of public and private debt

• Still tight access to finance

• A range of long-term challenges

Need to maintain the momentum of reforms

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Uneven progress towardsthe Europe 2020 targets

• The EU is on course to meet or closely approach the targets on education, climate and energy

• This is not the case regarding employment, research and development and poverty reduction

• Performance towards the targets also shows increasing differences across Member States, and sometimes within them, in several areas

The target on poverty and social exclusion: a complex definition

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• A target made up of three components

• National targets expressed in different ways

A general increase in exposure to poverty and social exclusion as a result of the crisis

8Source: European Commission

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The European platform against poverty and social exclusion: achievements and challenges

• Ambition: integrated approach to fight poverty and partnership between civil society, social partners and Member States

• Swift delivery of actions…

• … but lack of visibility and of a unified framework

Towards the mid-term review of the strategy: the public consultation on

Europe 2020

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The public consultation aims to draw lessons from the first years of implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and further develop it to make it an effective post-crisis growth strategy for Europe.

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The public consultation: why now?

• Conjunction of procedural, economic and institutional factors• Procedural: halfway to the 2020 deadline

• Economic: European economies are gradually recovering from historically deep recession of the last years

need to strengthen and sustain the emerging recovery

• Institutional: to provide the new Commission with an assessment of the early years of the Europe 2020 strategy and ideas on how to further develop it 

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The public consultation: how?

• Open until 31 October 2014 to all interested parties

• Content• Scope, ownership and delivery of the strategy

• Instruments

• Replies will help harvest concrete experiences on the functioning of the strategy. The involvement of relevant actors is thus key for the success of the public consultation

Next steps

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The public consultation will feed into the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy, which should take place in 2015.

Next steps

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• 5 May-31 October 2014: public consultation on the Europe 2020 strategy

• After the closure of the public consultation: synthesis of the outcome and main messages emerging from the public consultation

• Early 2015: policy conclusions and proposals from the Commission for the pursuit of the strategy

• Spring 2015: discussion of the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy at the European Council

For more information

On the public consultation•Your Voice in Europe and the public consultation's website•Mailbox: SG-EUROPE2020-CONSULTATION@ec.europa.eu

On the Europe 2020 strategy•Europe 2020 website•European Semester website•Eurostat indicators and publications

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Seminar of the Social Platform

26 June 2014

Marcel HAAGSecretariat-General of the European Commission

Head of Unit "Europe 2020, European Semester, Economic Governance"

THE MID-TERM REVIEW OF THE EUROPE 2020 STRATEGY