The Secretary of the Presidency and the Regional Under Secretary for European Affairs and External Cooperation will meet with the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Pedro Lourtie, and the Secretary of State for Energy and Innovation, Carlos Zorrinho, who is also the National Coordinator of the Europe 2020 Strategy, in the context the Azores participation in the drafting of the National Reform Programme (NRP), which is included in the Europe 2020 Strategy.

The meeting to take place in Lisbon on Tuesday sets the beginning of a series of contacts, participations as well as the Regional Government’s involvement in the drafting of the final version of National Reform Plan, which Portugal will submit to the European Commission in April. These works require the participation of the Azores in a workshop titled “Europe 2020 Strategy: Challenges to the National Reform Programme” on February 16, followed by work meetings to be held in the Region with members of the National Coordination Network of the Europe 2020 Strategy, who will address the contributions of the Azores to be included in the Portuguese NRP.

The Europe 2020 Strategy, which defines the strategies for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, following the Lisbon Strategy, has established five major goals that must be translated by Member States into national goals included in the National Reform Plans (NRP), which should be drafted in conjunction with the Stability and Growth Plan.

By stipulating these five major goals, the European Council aims to: achieve an employability rate of 75% among the population aged between 20 and 64 years; invest 3% percent of the EU GDP in research and development; meet the goals of the 20/20 strategy for energy and climate change; reduce the early school dropout rate to less than 10% and increase higher education degrees to at least 40% of the youth population. With regard to the fight against poverty, the EU has set as a goal that 20 million people should no longer be at risk of poverty and social exclusion.