Councillor Neale Redomnd:

I thank the committee for this opportunity to appear here once again. I am joined here today by my colleagues: Mr. Joseph Bishop and Ms Hayley O'Donnell. Unfortunately, our executive director, Ms Noelle O'Connell, is in Brussels today, but she has asked me to convey her apologies to the meeting.

As many of the members will be aware, European Movement Ireland is an independent not-for-profit membership-based organisation founded in 1954. We aim to provide a robust, fair and reasoned voice on European matters in Ireland through increasing awareness and understanding of European issues. We are also fortunate to be part of a wide network of over 40 organisations within the European Movement International family. Membership of this network has allowed us to broaden our analysis when it came to our submission on the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. We are grateful to our partners in European Movement International for providing us with their input.

The Europe 2020 strategy's aim of improving the EU's competitiveness while maintaining its social market economy model and improving its resource efficiency is vital for the future of the EU and for the future of Ireland. Now is an excellent time for civil society to reflect on the strategy and to see how successful its implementation has been. However, any reflection must take into account that this strategy was launched against the backdrop of an extremely volatile financial climate, a backdrop that has played no small part in limiting the initial impact of the strategy. In a paper about the strategy for policy review, Ms Heather Roy notes the development of economic and fiscal policy, such as the two pack, six pack, etc., has pushed the Europe 2020 strategy to the background and along with it, any real commitment to inclusive growth.

The European Commission report on stock-taking of the Europe 2020 strategy, published in March 2014, reveals that the EU 2020 goals will remain out of reach if EU member states do not strive beyond incremental improvements. Furthermore, the report shows that investment is slow, unemployment has reached unsustainable levels and, ultimately, there is an urgent need for more forward looking European policies.

According to the report, progress on reaching the key Europe 2020 strategy targets is mixed.

The EU is on course to meet or come close to its targets on education, climate and energy, but not employment, research and development or poverty reduction. European Movement Ireland believes that part of the difficulty in reaching the targets is the lack of a sense of ownership in member states of the Europe 2020 strategy. It is perhaps too top-down in its approach. By having more publicity and encouraging the sharing of responsibility for national reform plans, our approach is designed to raise the profile and, therefore, the importance of the strategy in the eyes of the national political and economic leaders. These have yet to be executed properly.

In the 2010 guidance for member states provided by the European Commission upon the adoption of Europe 2020, it was said that the strategy should be developed in close partnership with all national, regional and local authorities, and with continued interaction with stakeholders and interested parties. The Commission does not provide implementation plans on how to attain these objectives. That is the role of the member states. Although the flagship initiatives and the country-specific recommendations indicate the broad directions, they often remain very wide-ranging and do not specify concrete measures, leaving a lot of discretion to member states.

As regards the current progress on the Europe 2020 targets, the Council stated on the occasion of its spring European Council in March 2012 that efforts undertaken to date remain insufficient to meet most of these targets. The Commission stresses that there is not yet full ownership at national level of the radical changes which have been decided in terms of future economic governance and that, even at EU level, there is an implementation gap. We believe the solution to this problem lies in firmly establishing the nature and extent of the involvement of stakeholders and providing a clear and concise outline of what is expected of each national reform programme stakeholder.

Looking forward to the second half of the strategy, European Movement Ireland contends that the partnership approach envisaged is a priority. Europe 2020 will fail to deliver if it remains a purely top-down and non-inclusive process. More active consultation and integration within the national reform programme is required to achieve this. Another solution to the lack of engagement at this stage is to increase awareness of the programme. A greater effort needs to be made to reach out to potential stakeholders. Constructive and meaningful engagement with stakeholders is necessary for the strategy to flourish and for its ambitious targets to be met at national and EU level.

As an aside, ease of access for making submissions to the European Commission has been an issue highlighted by European Movement Ireland repeatedly in our annual accountability report. We look forward to presenting to the committee the findings of the 2013 report next month. Ultimately, the main challenge for the EU remains to increase the ownership of the Europe 2020 strategy by better involving the European public in the process. Given the absence of incentives to co-operate, it is up to national Governments to be seen as willing to act in compliance with the EU's agenda in an enthusiastic way.

Unfortunately, notwithstanding the efforts of this committee, there are so far no major initiatives aimed at increasing participation and engagement at the citizen level. The period up to 2020 offers great opportunities for transformation, but only if the right steps are taken. European Movement Ireland believes that the mid-term review is an opportunity for a more ambitious policy since governance reforms are on track and economies are recovering. Indeed, it is a necessity since the ongoing review has revealed that without strategy change, the EU 2020 goals for employment, research, poverty reduction and energy efficiency will simply be missed.

The incoming College of Commissioners will need to consider the mid-term review results and we hope it will propose a way forward which involves clarity and strengthens engagement. Investment in inclusive growth in a smart and sustainable way must be prioritised in Europe 2020 for the well-being of the people and the new college. Related Commission services must ensure inclusive growth is reinstated as a key driver of EU policy over the next few years. I thank the committee and look forward to answering any questions.