Europe 2020 Strategy, Finland’s National Reform Programme, Spring 2018

The European Council adopted a Strategy for Growth and Employment in 2010. The vision of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which extends to 2020, is smart, sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The strategy sets EU-wide targets for employment, research and development expenditure, climate measures, education and reducing poverty. Each Member State sets its own national targets in accordance with the programme. As part of its national targets, Finland aims to raise the employment rate of 20–64 year-olds to 78%, spend a minimum of 4% of GDP on R&D, achieve the climate and energy targets agreed in the EU, maintain the proportion of 30–34 year-olds having completed tertiary-level education at 42%, reduce the proportion of 18–24 year-old early school leavers to 8%, and reduce the number of people living at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The European Council adopts for all Member States recommendations aimed at guiding national decision-making so that it supports growth and employment. The focus in the recommendations issued to Finland in 2017 is on ensuring the sustainability of general government finances, improving the cost-effectiveness of social and health care services, establishing a closer linkage between wages and productivity, pursuing an active labour market policy, providing stronger incentives for work, and introducing deregulation aimed at increasing competition in the service sector and encouraging investments. The Government is now presenting the tenth Europe 2020 National Reform Programme. The programme describes the measures that the Government has initiated to achieve the national targets and how Finland has reacted to the recommendations issued by the EU. The information provided in the programme will serve as a basis for a more detailed examination of Finland’s situation at the EU leve