The EU 2020 was agreed by the Heads of EU States in 2010. The strategy focuses on creating growth through knowledge/IT, eliminating poverty, promoting education, empowering people in inclusive societies as well as creating a more competitive, and greener economy. The EU2020 was supposed....
to be the EU’s Grand strategy for economic growth and for balanced social/environmental development.
However, very little of what the EU2020 promised has been implemented so far. At the time of its inception, the EU2020 was seen as a moderate compromise. It is quite disappointing to see that the EU has not even managed to meet its modest targets.
The failure to implement EU2020 is a sign of the EU’s retrogression in all fields. Most states are falling behind in poverty-reduction and employment goals. Indeed Europeans are better educated today as the strategy demands. However, the future is not bright as many of them will remain unemployed.
Although progress has been achieved in the EU2020’s green targets, this can be mostly attributed to the slowing of consumption rather than to the implementation of a successful EU environmental strategy. The field of renewables is doing well but it still has a long way to go to reach the 20 per cent target in the energy total as claimed by the EU2020.
How can the EU remain reliable when it fails to focus on the basic needs of its population as described by the EU2020? The whole EU2020 fiasco constitutes another case of EU embarrassment. However, this is not a minor miss. EU2020 targets were meant to make our lives better as well as to make Europe more successful. As the EU has failed to deliver, our lives have become more insecure. The politics of recession have torn the EU2020 strategy apart. EU States have become obsessed with balancing their finances, thus neglecting sensitive aspects of human life (e.g. health, education, social security, alleviation of poverty, environmental protection).
In the light of the 2014 European elections, EU citizens can pose various ‘disturbing’ questions to their politicians. One of them should be on the failure of the EU2020. Why have the EU2020 targets not been met? Who should be held accountable? It is in our best interest to see the EU2020 targets being implemented. EU Member States have committed themselves to these targets. They now have to deliver.
* Dr. Vasilis Margaras is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels and a Local Government Consultant for Greek Regions.
Πηγή : blogs.euobserver.com
Επιμέλεια : NewsRoom Mykonos Ticker
