| Zusammenfassung: | The "Europe 2020" Strategy for growth and employment in the EU establishes a new framework for member countries' economic policies. Key elements are the national targets in five policy areas (employment, research and development, education, poverty, environment), the Stability and Growth Pact, the co-ordination process in the context of the "European Semester" with guidelines set for economic policy at the national level, the drafting of National Reform Programmes, their evaluation at the European level, and a new procedure for the surveillance of macroeconomic imbalances. Against the background of a status-quo assessment of the course of Austria's economic policy followed since 1995 ("narrow focus on competitiveness"), this article explores potential options for gauging the scope for policy action at the national level. Thus, measures in the area of education and innovation, employment and environmental policy could broaden the sources of Austria's economic growth and mobilise potential demand and output hitherto untapped. For such policy approaches, the new European co-ordination process defines guidelines, while leaving major scope for action to individual member countries, thereby lending support to growth- and employment-enhancing reforms in Austria. The EU framework is binding with regard to the environmental targets, due to the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
|
|---|