Global General

EU leaders adopt new 10-year growth blueprint

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-18 05:12

BRUSSELS -- European Union (EU) leaders formally adopted the bloc's new strategy for growth and jobs for the next 10 years at their one-day summit on Thursday.

"We adopt Europe 2020, our new strategy for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth," the leaders said in a conclusion document. "The strategy will help Europe recover from the crisis and come out stronger."

Related readings:  EU report shows banks rely less on state aid  EU proposes to levy banks for resolution funds  EU task force agrees on four targets on economic governance  Market dips on EU debt crisis jitters

The leaders confirmed the headline targets regarding increasing employment, research and development, climate change, energy efficiency, education and poverty reduction.

"The emphasis must now be on implementation, and we will guide and monitor this process," the leaders said.

EU member states will now implement the policy priorities and finalize their national targets.

At their spring summit in March, the EU leaders agreed on the headline targets in the field of Research & Developement, energy efficiency and climate change, but left out clear-cut targets in education and poverty reduction due to differences among member states.

The targets agreed upon at the spring summit include raising employment rate to 75 percent for men and women, increasing research and development investment to 3 percent of the gross domestic product, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.  

At Thursday's summit, the leaders set clear targets in the field of education and poverty reduction. They agreed to reduce school drop-out rates to less than 10 percent and increasing the share of 30-34 years old having completed tertiary or equivalent education to at least 40 percent. But the document stressed that the competence of members to define and implement quantitative targets in the field of education.

Germany had been opposed to the targets in education at the spring summit on reason that it may infringe on competence of its government in education policy.

On poverty reduction, the leaders agreed to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and exclusion and allowed member states to choose three indicators to overcome previous difference in defining poverty in each member state.