During the recent Spring Council, the EU outlined two action plans to be implemented by 2020. The first is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 percent compared with what they were in 1990; the second is to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the energy mix by 20 percent.

In establishing these plans, the EU has clearly put two additional goals on its agenda. It hopes to be a model for combating global warming and to expand its soft power by showing the world its capacity for leadership in environmental protection, and it is trying to optimize its economic structure in order to improve its competitiveness. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions it becomes a world leader in environmental protection. By increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the energy mix it will have to upgrade its technology which will create more jobs.

The EU already has action plans in place for the year 2010. It wants to improve the employment rate and the region's capacity for innovation so that it remains "the world's most competitive body". This comes under the Lisbon Strategy, which was introduced to deal with low productivity and the stagnation of economic growth in the EU. The other is to increase investment in research and development (R&D) from 1.9 percent of every member state's GDP (as it was in 2000) to 3 percent in 2010. The EU realized that this second goal was going to be impossible and revised its plan in 2005. Only a few countries like Sweden and Finland will be able to meet the original goal set. At present, the average proportion of GDP channeled into R&D is just 1.8 percent of each country's GDP. Even in Germany, the leader in innovation in Europe, the rate is just 2.5 per cent.

The EU's economy has grown very well in recent years. The economic growth rate averaged 2.9 percent across the EU in 2006. Some 3 million jobs were created and the unemployment rate fell to an unprecedented 7.9 percent. However, there is still a long way to go before it becomes the "the world's most competitive economic body". A report from the Association of the European Chambers of Commerce found that the EU's development level was lagging 22 years behind that of the US, and that its investment in R&D was equal to that of the US 30 years ago.

Three obstacles affect the economic development of the EU as a whole. Firstly, its labor market is not flexible enough. The labor unions in the EU are so strong that they keep the job markets from flowing freely, some critics argue. Secondly, its education system is somewhat impractical. Just as the EU announced that millions of jobs had been created, some of the biggest member states like France and Germany claimed that they were experiencing a shortage of technical workers. Some enterprises had to reemploy retirees, unable to find adequately skilled workers from among new graduates. The Association of German Engineers estimated that in 2006 there were 22,000 job vacancies in construction, energy, machine production and other fields, leading to a direct economic loss of 3.7 billion euros.

The final hurdle is that the EU's general economic structure does not mesh well with economic globalization. Britain, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Holland have adjusted their economic structure to accommodate economic globalization, and consequently their economies have enjoyed robust growth in recent years. However, the situation is quite different in countries around Mediterranean like France and Italy. Economic structural adjustments in these countries are quite difficult, as citizens are fearful of economic globalization. Some even want to establish barriers to economic globalization.

It is easier said than done. If the EU wants to overcome these obstacles, it must have the courage to take action. In an article in British newspaper The Financial Times, the author wrote that EU has taken a huge symbolic step, and that now all member states needed to wear the difficulties and implement efficient policies in order for the action plans to become a reality.

By People's Daily Online