engleski

Competitivness and Education within the Lisbon Strategy and Europe 2020

The 2000 Lisbon European Council defined competitiveness as the main strategic goal and prerequisite for sustainable economic growth, high employment and social cohesion. The more operative measures were introduced through the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (IGs), adopted in 2005 and revised in 2008, leading to significant improvements in performance indicators. however, the economic crisis encouraged the adoption of the new strategy called "Europe 2020" to ensure new impetus for dynamic and sustainable growth, reemphasizing competitiveness as the main tool for growth as well as an important issue within macroeconomic surveillance. The immediate policy response to the crisis was a large increase in public spending, and there is a need for a comprehensive exit strategy. Several countries could face stringent surveillance measures, not only at the level of fiscal and current account balance, but more importantly for indicators of problematic factors for national competitiveness that are causing the problem of macroeconomic imbalances. the paper starts by ranking the EU members and other countries regarding competitiveness and elaborating the Lisbon and Europe 2020 Strategy goals aimed at increasing competitiveness. The interrelations between competitiveness and economic performance are presented. two particular areas are taken into consideration in relation to competitiveness - the regulative environment, and education and training. The administrative burden is one of the most important bottlenecks in the competitiveness of the EU countries, and the defined goal of a reduction by 25% by 2012 is well addressed in the Action Programme and in the measurement mechanisms, though significant improvements are still to be reported. In education and training, out of five 2010 benchmarks, only one is on track, while for the 2020 benchmarks, two are above the necessary trend line, and progress should be speeded up for a further two. However, for low achievers, performance has clearly deteriorated. Croatia has made a significant improvement in policies that fall within the Lisbon Strategy, which also represents quite sound public finances. However, there are still significant problems, especially within the administrative barriers for business, higher education and lifelong learning, and decreasing overall competitiveness.

competitiveness, education, Lisbon Strategy, Europe 2020

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