EU: Overview - What is the Europe 2020 strategy about?

The Europe 2020 strategy is the EU's agenda for growth and jobs for the current decade. It emphasises smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in order to improve Europe's competitiveness and productivity and underpin a sustainable social market economy.

To reach this objective, the EU has adopted targets to be reached by 2020 in five areas:

• Employment
• Research & Development
• Climate change & energy
• Education
• Poverty and social exclusion

 What are the key targets to be reached by 2020?

The headline targets related to the strategy's key objectives at the EU level cover:

• Employment:
  > 75% of the population aged 20 to 64 years to be employed;

• Research & Development:
  > 3% of GDP to be invested in the R&D sector;

• Climate change & energy: 
  > Greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 20% compared to 1990
  > Share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption to be increased to 20%
  > Energy efficiency to be improved by 20%

• Education: 
  > Share of early school leavers to be reduced under 10%
  > At least 40% of 30 to 34 years old to have completed tertiary or equivalent education

• Poverty and social exclusion: 
  > At least 20 million people fewer at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

The EU-level targets have been translated into  national targets in each EU country, reflecting different situations and circumstances.