After four years following the introduction of the Europe 2020 strategy, the European Commission adopted on 5 March 2014 a Communication “Taking stock of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”. A public consultation was launched in order to gather views on the lessons learned from the early years of the strategy’s implementation and on the elements to be taken into account in its further development, in order to build the post-crisis growth strategy of the EU.
After the consultation of its member organisations, AGE submitted on the 31 October 2014 a common response to the consultation:
AGE members have general concerns about the lack of balance between economic, environmental and social considerations of the strategy i.e. to underpin a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The five headline targets – however ambitious and strategic – have failed to measure progress in meeting the Europe 2020 goals. This is because the translation of the targets at national level was arbitrary and, consequently, did not encourage policies to reach the EU headline targets. In addition, the targets are too generic and do not reflect the diversity of social realities. For example, the poverty and employment targets should be further broken down in order to better promote and monitor progress by key demographic data including age, gender, and ethnicity.”
For a full version of AGE response to the consultation, please click here.
