The economic goals of Europe 2020 : a comparative assessment of the national targets of a select number of the European Union members

Abstract

The objective of Europe 2020 is to develop the European economy into the most advanced in the world. This objective would help revitalise the economies of the Member states after the impact of the global financial crisis in 2008. This objective came to being after the failure of the Lisbon Agenda from achieving its set of objectives by 2010. The objective of the Lisbon Agenda was to create a knowledge based European economy that to become the most competitive region in the world. The objective of this dissertation is to shed light on the economic goals of Europe 2020, while giving a comparative assessment of the national targets of a select number of Europe Union members. In the first chapter, I shall provide a structured and introductory view on the notion of competitiveness. This notion will also delve into the processes of the Lisbon agenda and why it failed to reach its targets. Following this, I shall delve into the processes of the newly reformed economic agenda called 'Europe 2020'. The four main goals that shall be tackled are employment, research and development, poverty and education. For my research study, the target of 'green energy' has not been included as an economic goal of Europe 2020. On the other hand, the target of poverty and social inclusion has been considered due to its direct link to the economic situation of a country. The two countries that shall be compared are Luxembourg and Malta. The second chapter gives a brief outline of economic competitiveness between the EU and the rest of the world. Chapter 2 also provides a benchmarking exercise of the EU-27 before comparing Malta and Luxembourg. The third chapter shall look into the four economic goals of Europe 2020 whilst chapter 4 underlines the main results and observations found in the previous chapter. The fifth chapter concludes the dissertation by providing un answer to the main research question of the study.