The thesis focuses on analysis of competitiveness policy of the European Union. The aim of the thesis is to define the competitiveness policy represented by long-term growth strategies: Lisbon strategy and later Europe 2020, to analyze shift in perception of the competitiveness from the beginning of this century till nowadays concerning the changes of both economic environment and the European Union. First part defines theoretical approaches to competitiveness including "European model". Second part deals with the analysis of the economic situation and identifies main challenges for the EU. Third part compares Lisbon strategy with Europe 2020. Finally, the Europe 2020 strategy is critically evaluated.

The research is aimed at investigating how the common EU social and economic strategies, namely the 'Lisbon strategy' and the 'EU 2020', have been influential as a 'EU incentive' in European social partners having drawn the matter of employment of migrant workers both at Member state level and at European level by looking into their respective changes in responses towards the matter in the course of the two strategies. The research has found that there have been changes made in the European social partners' responses regarding the problematic matter of migrant workers' employment, namely precarious working conditions and lower employment rates than native workers, at all levels. To be specific, the trade unions have begun to emphasize more proactive protection of migrants at workplace than before. However, there is little evidence that it was the result of either the Lisbon or the EU2020. It was rather much more because of the evolving European economic market circumstance that has been getting liberalized more actively as the single market goes on, featured by the problematic side of the increase of posted workers and agency workers. Especially, the research is also aimed at shedding a light on how the Lisbon and the EU2020 have been articulated in the two different economic, social and employment models, namely the Nordic model and the Western model by investigating the Swedish case and the UK case in the study of Member state level social partners.

The dominant human capital theory-based perspective that education is crucial for economic success and employment has affected national and regional policies in education and employment worldwide. The present thesis critically assesses the target for increased number of tertiary education graduates in the current EU agenda for growth and employment (Europe 2020 Strategy). This target presumes that employment is positively related with tertiary education qualifications, and that there is an increasing demand for highly educated workers in the EU labour markets. Based on Eurostat data, our findings indicate that (i) more public spending on tertiary education does not seem to be associated with higher employment rates of graduates in the EU countries; (ii) in more than half of the EU28 member states, unemployment rates are not related with increased number of graduates; (iii) in most of the remaining EU countries, the increase in graduates is associated with higher graduates’ unemployment rates; (iv) increased number of tertiary education graduates relates with higher overqualification rates in the majority of the EU countries. These results accord with previous studies which find that investment in education alone is inadequate to explain complex socio-economic phenomena, such as graduates’ employment/unemployment. Moreover, they further support previous research works, which question the proclaimed increased need for highly educated workers in the EU labour markets. This, in turn, suggests that common European policies which target at increasing horizontally the number of graduates may further deteriorate the existing problem of overqualification in the EU. Without downplaying the importance of education and skills in employment, the current thesis contemplates that the disproportionate emphasis on the role of tertiary education in employment may falsely cultivate the perception that education per se can be the main solution for unemployment. Thus, it is likely to conceal the wider socio-economic reasons that influence a person’s ability to find, secure and advance in his/her job. Last, but not least, this perspective narrows down the role of tertiary education confining it to economic and employment purposes.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate if youth mobility programmes, such as Youth Exchanges, are compatible with Europe 2020 strategy and if they fulfil its aims. Youth Exchanges were previously classified under Youth in Action Programme, but since 2013 they are classified under Erasmus+ Programme. Theoretical part describes European strategies and these programmes while the practical part offers the analysis of financial and statistical data and results of a survey gathered between organizations running Youth Exchanges.

Master thesis analyses the impact of the Europe 2020 strategy´s objectives on the economic performance of the member states of EU. The strategy focuses on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and its objectives are in the areas of employment, research and development, climate change and energy, education and poverty and social exclusion. Master thesis analyses the impact by fixed-effects panel regression. The regression includes variables representing the objectives of the strategy and control variables representing the determinants of economic growth. Economic performance is represented by GDP per capita. The result of the regression analysis is the statistically significant and positive impact of the implemented objectives in the areas of employment, climate change and energy, education and poverty, and social exclusion. The field of research and development appears to be statistically insignificant.

Sammanfattning Med inspiration från Maarten A. Hajer (1995) kommer detta arbete att analysera och försöka klarlägga hur miljö och rättvisefrågor kommer till uttryck i den utvecklingspolitik som sker ur ett samtida perspektiv på EU-nivå. I detta fall med ett fokus på EUROPA 2020, ”En strategi för smart och hållbar tillväxt för alla”. Vilket analyseras via en kritisk diskursanalys efter Faircloughs tredimensionella modell efter frågeställningen: Vilken eller vilka diskurser framträder i ”Europa 2020” med avseende på ekonomisk utveckling i relation till miljö och rättvisa, och; vilka sanningar/hegemonier framträder med avseende på miljö och utveckling i denna kommunikativa händelse? Analysen bidrog till klarläggandet av ett flertal framträdande diskurser, sanningar/hegemonier vilka beskrivs konstituerade och likväl reproducerande av en större ideologisk social praktik. Tillväxtsdiskursen ses som den regerande diskursen för vilket alla lägre stående diskurser rättar sig efter. Dess förverkligande ses som en förutsättning till hållbar utveckling och social samanhållning. Detta vilket förverkligas genom ekologisk modernisering som verktyg att koppla isär miljöförstörelse och skapa nya marknader och konkurrensfördelar och därmed välfärd uttryckt i tillväxt. I relation till uppsatsens syfte att se huruvida den hållbarhetsdiskurs EU för används som en maktdiskurs framgår det i relation till tidigare forskning och kritiken till ekologisk modernisering att vissa rättviseperspektiv och intressen exkluderas i denna diskursiva praktik. / Abstract Inspired by Maarten A. Hajer (1995), this work will analyze and attempt to clarify how environmental and equity issues are reflected in the development policies that takes place from a contemporary perspective at EU level. In this case, with a focus on the Europe 2020, “A European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” Which are analyzed through a critical discourse analysis after Fairclough’s three dimensional model in relation to the research question: Which discourse/discourses appears in the “Europe 2020” in terms of economic development in relation to the environment and justice, and; What truths/hegemonies emerges in relation to the environment and development in this communicative event? The analysis contributed to the clarification of a number of prominent discourses, truths/hegemonies described constituted and likewise reproduce the larger ideological social practice. Growth discourse is seen as the reigning discourse for which all inferiors discourses comply. Its realization is seen as a prerequisite for sustainable development and social shared stance. This thus realized through ecological modernization as a tool to decouple environmental degradation and create new markets and competitive advantages and thus prosperity in terms of growth. In relation to the essays purpose to see whether the EU sustainability discourse is used as a power discourse, it is clear in relation to previous research and critique of ecological modernization that some equity perspectives and interests are being excluded in this discursive practice.

Czech Republic has been always traditional industrial country and the importance of its industry will not diminish, even in spite of the growing share of services on GDP. The goal of this thesis is therefore to analyze strong and weak points of Czech manufacturing and its particular sectors. Measuring various indicators of macroeconomic competitiveness, the results for the Czech Republic have revealed relatively low labour costs, at least in comparison with the EU average, but this comparative advantage can be depleted over time. The challenge for the Czech manufacturing is thus to pass over to upper levels of production with higher margins and higher value added. The thesis is also dealing with different points of view on the topic of industrial policy and the role of government in this policy. The thesis introduces two strategical documents as well, Europe 2020 strategy published by the European Commission and Back on Top strategy published by Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamos Lietuvos ir Europos Sąjungos ekonomikos strateginių nuostatų sąsajos su nacionalinėmis socialinėmis ekonomikos tendencijomis. Pirmajame baigiamojo darbo skyriuje nustatomi teoriniai valstybės dalyvavimo ekonomikoje pagrindai, vertinant Lietuvos pereinamosios ekonomikos ypatumus per šalies Nepriklausomybės laikotarpį. Antroje baigiamojo darbo dalyje nagrinėjama ekonomikos strateginio planavimo metodika, parenkamas scenarijaus metodas, sudaromos baigiamojo darbo tyrimo modelis. Trečioje empirinėje dalyje atliekama Lietuvos ūkio (ekonomikos) raidos iki 2015 m. strategijos analitika, lyginamos 2002 m. formuotos strateginės nuostatos ir jų įgyvendinimas 2012 m. Taip pat analizuojami Strategijos Europa 2020 keliami tikslai, šių tikslų atitikimas Lietuvos socialinėms ekonominėms tendencijoms bei šių tikslų įgyvendinimo logiškumas ir realistiškumas. Ketvirtoje baigiamojo darbo dalyje pateikiamos išvados ir formuojami siūlymai toliau įgyvendinant strategines ekonomikos nuostatas. / The links between national social economics trends and strategic statements of EU and Lithuanian political documents are analyzed in the master thesis work. In the first part of the work, the basics of the role of the State in economics are analyzed considering Lithuania to be a transitional economics. In second part of the master thesis work, the methodic of strategic economic planning is analyzed, the model of the research is constructed and the scenarios method is selected to do empirical research in the third part. In the third part, the results of long term economic strategy till 2015 are investigated and the real socio economic situation is evaluated. The strategic goals of Europa 2020 strategy are identified and its fitness to national socio economic trends is characterized. The logics and realism of set goals are evaluated considering hypothetical picture of Lithuania in 2020. In the fourth part of the master thesis work, the conclusion is drawn and recommendations for forward economic policy are suggested.

In 2000, the EU, under the influence of its current progress in the integration process, established a list of fairly ambitious goals in the economic, social and environmental issues, which it had wanted to achieve by 2010. The reform program has been named the Lisbon Strategy and has often been paraphrased as "catch up and overtake the U. S." Shortly after its launch, however, it began to be clear that such radical reform was not realistically possible, especially because of its complexity, a lack of willingness of Member States to implement these reforms and a poor set of implementation tools. The Lisbon Strategy has been followed by a new EU global reform document for 2020, Europe 2020, mainly due to the fact that the problems plaguing European countries remain the same and they haven't been adequately resolved by the Lisbon Strategy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the implementation of the Lisbon strategy in the Czech Republic, identify in which areas the CR has been successful, and in which it has lagged behind the performance of other EU members as well as where it could achieve a more significant progress. At the same time, the work examines the reasons why the Lisbon Strategy, though a very interesting concept of reform, has remained out of public interest, and its achievements haven't...

The European Union aims to reduce interregional disparities through its regional policy. This thesis deals with the effectiveness of EU regional policy and trends of regional disparities according to selected indicators. In the case study the impact of EU regional policy is observed in Ireland, the Czech republic and Bulgaria. Regional disparities are examined at NUTS 2 level. The Williamson curve is tested to explore the association between the level of economic development and level of disparities. In the comparative study the values of indicators are compared to the EU average. In the end, the thesis is focused on evaluation of EU regional policy efectiveness and seven recommendations are proposed to contribute to the improvement of EU regional policy so that goals of Europe 2020 Strategy are achieved.