Implementation of the strategy Europe 2020 by the multi-objective evaluation method MULTIMOORA

Abstract

The Lisbon Strategy was initiated by the European Union in 2000 in order to turn the European Union into the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. The Lisbon Strategy recognized the open method of co-ordination (OMC) as the EU-level governance tool. In the presence of the failure of the 2010 strategy the EU Member States adopted a new one as Europe 2020. Headline targets of the new strategy include an increase of the employment level, encouraging Research and Development, ensuring sustainable development and reducing social exclusion. The aim of this article is the development of the OMC practice by offering new procedures namely a system of structural indicators and the application of a multi-objective evaluation method. Being suitable for international comparisons, the multi-objective method MULTIMOORA is applied for analyzing a system of structural indicators and for covering headline targets of the strategy Europe 2020. The data cover the period 2005–2008 enabling to identify the progress of the EU Member States before adoption of the strategy Europe 2020. According to ranks given by MULTIMOORA, the Member States are classified into three groups: high performance, medium performance, and low performance states.