国际英语新闻：Van Rompuy's first summit to draw economic blueprint for 2020

BRUSSELS, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU)'s first full-time President Herman Van Rompuy will chair an informal summit on Thursday to draw an economic blueprint for the bloc for 2020.

The meeting is also devoted to addressing some immediate challenges, such as the record high unemployment rate within the EU and the crisis of Greece's budget deficit.

OUTLINING ECONOMIC BLUEPRINT FOR 2020

In an invitation letter to the heads of state and government of the 27 member states, Van Rompuy said that the purpose of the meeting is "primarily to discuss the direction of our economic policies for the years to come, in the form of a renewed strategy for jobs and growth."

"All European economies are facing major challenges," the president said in the invitation letter, adding that "our structural growth rate is not high enough to create jobs and sustain our social model."

"We need to act together to address these challenges to help preserve our European way of life and keep up with the other major economies in the world," he stressed.

The economic blueprint, named the EU 2020 Strategy, is supposed to replace the current Lisbon Strategy which is due to expire in 2010 and proved to be a failure if judged from the targets originally set.

The Lisbon Strategy had been designed with an aim to make the EU "the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world" by 2010, which seems impossible, since its two headline targets of 70 percent employment and research and development spending equivalent to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) are both set to be missed.

Faced with rising unemployment, an aging population and soaring budget deficits, the EU economy needs a new strategy to emerge stronger from the crisis and embark on a fresh course toward steady growth and job creation.

The EU 2020 Strategy aims to deliver greener and socially inclusive growth, which is built on three thematic objectives, namely creating value through knowledge, empowering people in inclusive societies and creating a competitive, connected and greener economy.

An EU source said on Wednesday that the summit on Thursday is scheduled to discuss structural reform policies needed to create jobs and accelerate economic growth of the bloc in the next ten years.

According to the source, the discussions will mainly focus on providing a broad guideline for the 2020 strategy, which is expected to be signed in written form in March at another summit.

ADDRESSING IMMEDIATE CHALLENGES

Another focus of the summit is to address the immediate challenges faced by the EU, notably the record high unemployment rate of the Eurozone and the EU, and the crisis concerning the Greece budget deficit.

According to the latest figures published by the EU statistic arm Eurostat, the unemployment rate of the 16-member eurozone reached 10 percent in December 2009, a 1.8-percentage-point increase compared with the same period last year.

For the EU, the unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in December 2009, compared with 7.6 percent in December 2008.

Up to December last year, the Eurostat estimated that the total number of people out of job within the 27 member states had reached 23.012 million.

The grave job market has prompted Spain to declare curbing the rising jobless rate as the top priority while it holds the rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of 2010. Spain saw its own unemployment rate reaching 19.5 percent in December 2009, the second highest among the 27 member states.

At an informal meeting of EU employment ministers held early February in Barcelona, the ministers agreed that more specific strategies should be sought in the short term, while laying the foundation for general policies over the coming decade.

Considering the grave situation, unemployment is sure to become a pressing issue at the informal summit convened by Van Rompuy.

Another immediate challenge faced by the EU is the crisis of Greece's budget deficit, which is said to have threatened the economic stability of the Eurozone and the EU as a whole.

Greece's public deficit is estimated to reach 12.7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, far above the accepted ceiling of 3 percent of the EU.

The Greek government submitted to the European Commission its stability program on Jan. 15, pledging to reduce its budget deficit by 4 percentage points to 8.7 percent of GDP in 2010 and thereafter to 5.6 percent in 2011, and 2.8 percent in 2012 and 2 percent in 2013.

The Commission has endorsed Greece's plan, but investors are yet to be convinced by the plan. There has been speculation of a bailout plan by the EU.

The EU source said on Wednesday that the 27 heads of state and government will issue a statement concerning the Greek crisis, but refused to disclose whether there will be any bailout plan for the country.

Despite being an economic summit, the EU heads of state and government will discuss the Copenhagen climate change conference, examining "the lessons to be learned from this global effort and the ways in which international negotiations on the fight against global warming can be taken forward."

The EU leaders are also to discuss ways to join all efforts efficiently in the reconstruction course in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.