[size=75:25u2bn7j]novinite 3 March 2010

EC Launches Europe 2020 Strategy, Targets 'Smart' Growth

urope must foster innovation and stick to green energy targets to compete successfully in the next decade, the EC said while launching Europe 2020.

The Europe 2020 strategy replaces the EU's Lisbon Strategy, which failed in its aim to make Europe the most dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010.

The commission says the EU should invest 3% of GDP in research and development and aim for "
smart"
growth.

Asian competitors have taken market share from many European businesses, the BBC reported.

EC President Jose Manuel Barroso said the global financial crisis of the past 12 months had simply "
wiped away"
much of the growth and employment generated by the European economy in the past decade.

"
We need to invest in smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. We need to concentrate our efforts on the most important levers,"
he added, warning against spreading EU resources too thinly.

"
It is not acceptable in the modern age that nearly 80 million people in Europe live under the poverty line,"
Barroso concluded.

The EC has set the 27 EU member states targets including:

• 75% of the population aged 20-64 to be in jobs

• Share of early school leavers to be under 10% and at least 40% of younger generation should have degree or diploma

• Speed up roll-out of high-speed internet connections

• 20 million fewer people to face risk of poverty

The commission says that launching an EU-wide patent system could save companies EUR 289 M annually. So far no target date has been set for such a system. European firms face translation costs of about EUR 3 000 euros on each patent, making them 13 times more expensive in the EU than in the US, the commission says.

It adds that sticking to the EU's low-carbon energy targets would save EUR 60 B in oil and gas imports by 2020.


Are they havering a laugh they can't get it right from 1 week to another let alone 10 years ahead