(11 October 2019) – Eurostat issues the 2019 edition of the publication ‘Smarter, greener, more inclusive?’, which analyses the progress of the EU and its Member States towards the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy.

The EU targets are set in the five thematic areas: employment – research & development (R&D) and innovation – climate change and energy – education – poverty and social exclusion. EU Member States have translated these objectives into their national targets in order to reflect their situation and possibilities to contribute to the common goals.
Eurostat monitors progress towards the Europe 2020 targets using nine headline indicators; the indicators’ breakdowns focus on specific subgroups of society or the economy presenting a more detailed picture. The analysis in the five thematic areas shows trends in the headline indicators over the past years, up to 2017 or 2018, depending on data availability.
The current conclusion is that employment, education and climate change targets are achievable. R&D and poverty alleviation still at a distance.