EUROPE 2020 : TOUGHER JOBS TARGET ON CARDS FOR NEXT DECADE.

The European Commission has said that the EU employment rate should be 75% of the working age population by 2020 - five points higher than the existing target. According to a draft communication obtained by Europolitics, the bloc must spend 3% of its gross domestic product on research by the end of the next decade and 40% of those aged between 30 and 34 should have completed third-level education. The document is the first concrete proposal made by the Commission to replace the roundly panned Lisbon strategy, and also includes emissions reduction targets (the 20% pledged at Copenhagen) and a commitment to reduce the risk of poverty across the bloc.

Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, green and inclusive growth' is due to be published on 3 March. It will be the EU executive's opening salvo in a bid to revive the bloc's flagging economy. "Before the crisis, the European economy was making progress [...] but these gains have been wiped out by the financial crisis," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told MEPs, on 24 February. Growth dipped by over 4% last year and there are now 23 million jobless across Europe - 10% of the working age population.

Barroso is worried that the EU is not keeping pace with its competitors, including China, Japan, India and Brazil, which are fast eroding Europe's grip on world trade. Even before 2008, the EU was lagging behind on employment rates, R&D spending, participation in higher education and internet and communications technology use. "To continue to enjoy a high quality of life, underpinned by its unique social model...