Time to move up a gear: the new partnership for growth and jobs

What are the most urgent steps needed? We need more research and development, with more efficiency and better coordination. We need to work together on a European scale to ensure that research is translated into innovative products and services, which feeds into growth and jobs. For our companies, particularly small and medium-sized companies, to compete successfully on an increasingly competitive global market, they must be able to draw strength from a European-wide home market. A market free of barriers and red tape, where rules are predictable and where dynamic companies can prosper.

We need more people in work to finance pensions and health care as populations get older. We need a lifecycle approach to work. Young people need help starting their working lives. Parents need affordable childcare and a decent work-life balance. And we cannot afford to have people drop out of the labour market when they are in their fifties.