The Finnish Presidency has prepared a report on the sustainable growth agenda. The report introduces a new integrated approach to sustainable growth highlighting that contributions from different relevant policy areas with carefully chosen and well-targeted policy measures are more efficient together and offer more synergies than separately.
It is clear that the successful and just transition towards a research and innovation-led climate neutral, digital economy is a common objective for all sustainable growth policies. Moreover, a wisely chosen combination of different policy measures could better respond to citizens’ legitimate concerns about their prospects for the future, employment, safety and livelihood in general.
The report identifies the key policy objectives for the next Commission’s agenda and lists measures to deliver on them. These objectives and thereby the main messages of the report are:
The preparation of the Presidency report has been a participatory process and the Member States have expressed their views at several different phases and fora including at the political level. At the Informal Meeting of the Ministers responsible for Competitiveness in Helsinki on 4 and 5 July, the Ministers had an exchange of views on sustainable growth and the priorities of the work programme of the next Commission.
The preparation of the report took place in the Council Working Parties on Internal Market, Industry and Research. The High Level Working Group on Competitiveness and Growth has contributed to these discussions from the perspective of several different policy areas and priority topics.