EU on track to meet growth and jobs targets, finds study
Following years of slow growth, EU Member States are on track to meet the growth and employment targets set out in the Lisbon Agenda, a new study shows. The report, authored by Allianz SE, one of Europe's largest financial services providers, and the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based think tank, says that the EU-15 are 90% on track to meet the goals of the Lisbon Agenda by 2010 - up from 73% at the end of 2005. The report states that the performance of all EU-15 countries had significantly improved from last year. Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands performed well, while the UK, Spain and Germany were also credited with achieving high growth and employment and were almost on track to achieve the Lisbon goals. 'Europe has finally turned the corner after years of disappointing performance,' said Michael Heise, chief economist at Allianz SE. 'Against the background of strong economic performance, we see tangible progress in key indicators, such as growth, employment and productivity,' he added. On the other hand, Italy and France were highlighted as lagging behind their European counterparts. Despite improvement in growth and an impressive record on job creation, the country scored poorly in skilled labour, labour productivity and sustainability of public finances. As for France, the country came in second to last because of its sluggish growth and weak productivity improvement. Meanwhile acceleration in productivity growth in Sweden, Germany and the UK outstripped US rates last year. The report comes ahead of the EU summit for Heads of State and Government on 8 and 9 March, which is to take stock of how the EU is doing with its ambition to raise growth and employment levels in line with the Lisbon strategy of making Europe the world's most competitive knowledge-based economy.