scholarly journals Social Exclusion and Convergence in the EU: An Assessment of the Europe 2020 Strategy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Ángel Lafuente ◽  
Amparo Marco ◽  
Mercedes Monfort ◽  
Javier Ordóñez
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Economic Convergence ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
Convergence Process ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
The Eu

Economic convergence has long been a declared objective of the EU and considered the fundamental mechanism for achieving socioeconomic cohesion. The recent economic crisis had an uneven impact across EU countries and brought a halt to the process of economic and social convergence. In response to this situation, the Europe 2020 strategy, launched in 2010, aimed to deliver social and territorial cohesion in the Member States. In this paper we evaluate the poverty and social exclusion pillar of the Europe 2020 strategy by analysing whether it has promoted convergence across the EU countries in the indicators devised to capture risk of poverty, severe material deprivation, and the number of persons living in households with very low work intensity. Our results for all three rates indicate that convergence occurs in heterogeneous clubs that do not follow a geographic east‒west or south‒north pattern. Convergence within each club, especially for the severe deprivation rate, takes place by means of a catching-up process, with Eastern European levels converging on the Western levels. Finally, not only is there club convergence, but there is no tendency for the clubs to convergence. Poverty and social cohesion indicators show a multi-speed Europe, casting doubt on the sustainability of the overall convergence process in the EU.

scholarly journals Multidimensional Assessment of the Social Development of EU Countries in the Context of Implementing the Concept of Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7821
Author(s):  
Anetta Barska ◽  
Janina Jędrzejczak-Gas ◽  
Joanna Wyrwa ◽  
Krzysztof Kononowicz
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
Regional Differentiation ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Multidimensional Assessment ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
The Eu

Measuring and monitoring the implementation of the concept of sustainable development is an important aspect of the assessment of the functioning of EU countries. One of the pivots of sustainable development is social order, although the literature analysis indicated that multidimensional empirical research in this area is scarce. The main goal of this article was to present the diversity of indicators characterizing social development in EU Member States in the context of progress made by each of them in implementing the concept of sustainable development between 2014 and 2018. The purpose of this article was also to compare Poland with the other EU countries in the years 2014 and 2018. The research procedure consisted of two stages. The first stage was to analyse and assess the regional differentiation of the values of variables explaining social development in the EU in the context of implementing the concept of sustainable development. The second stage envisaged a multidimensional assessment of the diversity of the thematic areas identified in the first stage, as well as a characterization of social development in the EU in the context of implementing the concept of sustainable development. Based on the obtained results, a conclusion could be drawn that many countries are witnessing positive trends which bring them closer to the successful implementation of the sustainable development paradigm—one of the principal priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy, a long-term socio-economic program of the EU. The multidimensional analysis also showed that the level of social development in the context of sustainable development differs across the EU. Particularly notable differences among EU countries could be observed for the variables denoting labour market and health, with demography being the least diversified of all areas. In Poland, the indicators regarding poverty and social exclusion improved significantly as a result of the implementation of numerous social programs. In addition to that, a positive change in education indicators was also reported in Poland. This favourable trend indicates that some of the goals set out in the Europe 2020 strategy have already been met by Poland while others are becoming increasingly attainable.

scholarly journals Poland’s Innovativeness Against The Background Of EU Countries (Recent Research Results)

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-35
Author(s):  
Bożena Mikołajczyk
Keyword(s):  
Smart Growth ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Lisbon Strategy ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
The Eu

Innovativeness in Europe has been a formulated goal of the EU since the Lisbon Strategy. One of the goals of the new Europe 2020 Strategy is smart growth, i.e. growth based on knowledge and innovation. This requires improving the quality of education and research results, the transfer of knowledge and innovations between countries, and broader commercialization of research results. Hence, the measurement of innovation evolves in order to reflect the factors that determine the level of innovativeness of economies. The purpose of this paper is to present the level of Poland’s innovativeness against the background of the EU countries, using the SII (Summary Innovation Index).

scholarly journals Discussing strategies for social Europe: The potential role of EU law in contributing to the Union’s policy objective of fighting poverty and social exclusion

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-375
Author(s):  
Ane Aranguiz ◽  
Herwig Verschueren
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Policy Objective ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
The University ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Social Europe

Anti-poverty strategies have been on the EU agenda for decades. In 2010, perhaps most saliently, Member States pledged to lift 20 million people out of poverty as part of the ten-year Europe 2020 Strategy. By the end of 2019, it became clear that this headline target was nowhere close to being achieved. In view of the disappointing results of previous EU strategies in combating poverty, a seminar was held on 5 December 2019 at the University of Antwerp to discuss future strategies for social Europe and the role of EU law in contributing to the policy objective of fighting poverty and social exclusion. This Special Issue is the result of that expert seminar. Sections 1 and 2 of this editorial place this Special Issue in context by explaining what led us to discuss the need for a more involved EU in matters of poverty and social exclusion and what has changed since then. Overall, we argue that the underwhelming results of previous EU anti-poverty strategies might point towards the need to do more, also by means of EU law. This need for further action has become as imminent as ever in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. Section 3 presents an outline of the Special Issue and explains how the different contributions relate to each other.

BIOECONOMY DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL BASED ON MORE EFFICIENT LAND USE IN THE EU

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina PILVERE ◽  
Aleksejs NIPERS ◽  
Bartosz MICKIEWICZ
Keyword(s):  
Green Growth ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Key Industries ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Production Resource

Europe 2020 Strategy highlights bioeconomy as a key element for smart and green growth in Europe. Bioeconomy in this case includes agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and pulp and paper production, parts of chemical, biotechnological and energy industries and plays an important role in the EU’s economy. The growth of key industries of bioeconomy – agriculture and forestry – highly depends on an efficient and productive use of land as a production resource. The overall aim of this paper is to evaluate opportunities for development of the main sectors of bioeconomy (agriculture and forestry) in the EU based on the available resources of land. To achieve this aim, several methods were used – monographic, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, statistical analysis methods. The findings show that it is possible to improve the use of land in the EU Member States. If all the Member States reached the average EU level, agricultural products worth EUR 77 bln would be annually additionally produced, which is 19 % more than in 2014, and an extra 5 billion m3 volume of forest growing stock would be gained, which is 20 % more than in 2010.

scholarly journals Sustainable Development in EU Countries in the Framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 443
Author(s):  
Elena Širá ◽  
Rastislav Kotulič ◽  
Ivana Kravčáková Vozárová ◽  
Monika Daňová
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
The Baltic

The Europe 2020 Strategy was proposed with a long-term vision to ensure prosperity, development, and competitiveness for the member countries. This strategy is divided into three main areas named “growth”. One of these is sustainable growth. This is an area of sustainability, where the partial targets are referred to as the “20-20-20 approach”, and includes a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, an increase in energy efficiency, and the sharing of renewable energy sources. However, questions arise, including: How do member states meet these targets? Which countries are leaders in this area? According to these stated questions, the aim of this article is to assess how EU countries are meeting the set targets for sustainable growth resulting from the Europe 2020 strategy and to identify the countries with the best results in this area. We looked for answers to these questions in the analysis of sustainable indicators, which were transformed into a synthetic measure for comparability of the resulting values. Finally, we identified the Baltic states, Nordic countries (European Union members), Romania, and Croatia as the best countries in fulfilling the sustainable growth aims. As sustainable development and resource efficiency are crucial areas for the future, it is important to consider these issues.

scholarly journals Can the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals be efficient? The challenge for achieving social equality in the European Union

Equilibrium ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Stanickova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Research background: Economic crisis hit all the European Union Member States hard, with the impact of crisis varying considerably. The low growth performance in the EU has increased concerns regarding an increasing wage dispersion, income inequality at large, and social exclusion in line with poverty. Inequality should be seen as a cornerstone of both sustainable and inclusive growth under the Europe 2020 Strategy. Social inequality in the EU is a real problem, which hampers sustainable economic growth. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this study is to introduce evaluation of social development convergence and divergence trends between the EU Member States in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The study gives an outline of the issues of the labour market and income disparities and poverty. Policymakers must be clear about what social objectives they are aiming to achieve, therefore special attention is paid to headline national goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Methods: The main task of this study is to assess social dimension and inequalities problems in the EU27 by applying Data Envelopment Analysis method, resp. time-series dynamic efficiency analysis in the form of output-oriented Malmquist Productivity Index. This study contains changes of key social equality indicators related to the Europe 2020 Strategy and compares objectives and general outlines of period 2010-2015, as well as the impact on national economics and living conditions. Findings & value added: Results contain elements of typology premises of the EU28 and point to a large diversity in inequality patterns, as the Author observes both increases and decreases in inequality at the EU level. Recent changes in social inequality have been associated with the business cycle, particularly with the accessibility of the labour market and, of course, with income inequality. Additionally, the development challenges are discussed for improvement of the socioeconomic well-being of the EU and to avoid social disparities.

scholarly journals Energy -Efficient Reconstruction of Public Lighting in Pravets Municipality from Bulgaria

2019 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 04008
Author(s):  
Veselka Kamburova ◽  
Violeta Rasheva ◽  
Michail Velikanov
Keyword(s):  
Energy Savings ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Energy Audit ◽  
Street Lighting ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
Energy Conservation Measures ◽  
The Eu

Improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases is a central issue of the Europe 2020 strategy. Today enormous electric energy is consumed by the street lighting. Much of it could be saved through suitable energy-conservation measures (ECMs). The energy audit of the street lighting system in the Pravets municipality was carried out in compliance with the legislation in force in the EU and Bulgaria. Data about the present state of street lighting and electricity consumption for a period of 3 years were gathered and analysed. The baseline electricity consumption was defined. Classification of streets was done and the light class of the different categories streets was determined. The potential for energy savings was identified and a package of ECMs was developed. The annual electricity savings are 680 MWh (or 57,441 €/y) and the annual CO2 emissions savings are 557,640 t. The investment for implementation of the envisaged ECMs is 414,840 €. The expected electricity savings compared to the baseline are 75%.

scholarly journals The European Union and competitiveness

2013 ◽  
pp. 15-19
Author(s):  
Zoltán Eperjesi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
Europe 2020 Strategy ◽  
Competitiveness Index ◽  
Main Components ◽  
The Eu

I define first of all the competitiveness in my study „Analysing the competitiveness of the European Union”. After that I turn to the analysis of the competitiveness of the EU. The European competitiveness index and its concept were of great assistance during the analyses. The concept of the European competitiveness index has three main components: creative economy, economic performance, access to infrastructure. It is unambiguous that the European Union can only sustain and increase its position reached in the world economy, when its member states commit themselves for the completion of the knowledge based economic policy striving for competitiveness. The Europe 2020 strategy and the budget period 2007–2013 emphasize the outstanding role of competitiveness and urge to take the necessary measures.

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