Growth and Employment Policies in Austria in a New European Framework

With its accession to the European Union Austria ceded economic policy authority to the EU level. However, a large part of those policy fields which are important for a growth strategy, such as education, innovation, labour market and social policies, largely remain in the responsibility of national states. The economic crisis of 2008–2010 revealed the need for an enhanced economic coordination within the EU, especially among euro area countries. The EU's growth and employment strategy "Europe 2020" has in part been formulated in response to these requirements. It establishes a new framework for the coordination of national objectives, growth priorities and monitoring instruments. Within this framework, a key role is played by the national objectives in five economic policy domains (employment, R&D, education, poverty, the environment), the stability and growth pact, the coordination process under the "European semester" providing guidelines for national economic policies, the drafting of national reform programmes and their evaluation as well as a new process for the surveillance of macroeconomic imbalances.