EFA

On the 3rd of March the European Commission launched the Europe 2020 strategy proposal. It aims at getting Europe out of the economic crisis, and at preparing the economy for the next decade through 3 key drivers and seven flagship initiatives. The first objective is “Smart growth through fostering innovation, enhancing performance of European education system, and making Europe a digital society. Secondly it puts green growth and competitiveness at the heart of the strategy with “Sustainable growth” as a priority. The last key driver is “inclusive growth”, with two proposed initiatives: an agenda for new skills and jobs aimed at modernizing European labour market, and a “European platform against poverty” to ensure more social cohesion, including reducing health inequalities. To measure progress, the strategy sets 5 headline quantitative targets at EU level: 75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed (instead of current 69%), 3% of the EU's GDP should be invested in research and development, meeting the so-called "20/20/20" EU climate/energy targets,  reduce the percentage of early school leavers under 10% while increasing the percentage of young adult with diploma to 40%, and  lifting 20 millions of European out of poverty. Member States will be asked to translate them into national targets. Health is invisible and unfortunately not identified as a key driver. Source: European Commission press release.