Brussels, 27/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 27 April, the European Commission adopted Broad Economic Policy Guidelines - BEPGs - (on the basis of Article 121) and Employment Policy Guidelines - EPGs - (based on Article 148). These two distinct legal instruments (a draft recommendation and a draft Council decision) are intimately linked and form “integrated guidelines”. They are the pillars on which will rest the implementation of the EUROPE 2020 strategy and contain the main priorities of the Commission communication of 3 March (see EUROPE 10090 and 10087) as revised by the European Council of 27 March (see EUROPE 10107). The 10 integrated guidelines define the 2020 strategy's five main objectives. They now have to be adopted by the European Council at the end of June so that member states can begin drafting their own national reform programmes.
The 10 guidelines are: - BEPGs: (1) ensuring the quality and sustainability of public finances; (2) addressing macroeconomic imbalances; (3) reducing imbalances in the euro area; (4) optimising support for R&D (3% of GDP invested in R&D by 2020) and innovation, strengthening the knowledge triangle and unleashing the potential of the digital economy; (5) improving resource efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (so as to achieve the 20/20/20 objectives); (6) improving the business and consumer environment and modernising the industrial base; - EPGs: (7) increasing labour market participation and reducing structural unemployment; (8) developing a skilled workforce responding to labour market needs, promoting job quality and lifelong learning; (9) improving the performance of education and training systems at all levels (reducing school drop-out levels to 10%) and increasing participation in tertiary education (at least 40% of 30-34 year-olds should hold a higher education or equivalent diploma by 2020); (10) promoting social inclusion and combating poverty (reducing the number of people under the threat of poverty by 20 million).
The European Parliament has just, however, drawn attention to its prerogatives in this area, calling on the European Council to postpone adoption of the EUROPE 2020 strategy until the autumn (from June). The conference of the EP presidents wants to have more time to assess the proposals and points out that Parliament has the right to be consulted on EU employment policy guidelines and may, therefore, delay adoption of the package if not happy with the content. The current timetable only gives the EP a few weeks to deliver its assessment, when it has the legal right to be consulted on employment guidelines. Consequently, if they are considered to form a single whole, the policies are likely to be adopted in the autumn should Parliament decide to provide a more in-depth evaluation of the proposals, a press release, issued on Monday 26 April, says. (A.B./G.B./transl.rt)