. No, the overall picture seems to be that Europe has learnt little from the crisis. In general we observe a shift from the logic of how to prevent the next crisis to come, which was at the beginning of the crisis the predominant question, towards a logic focused on how to deal with the present situation, the economic and financial consequences of the crisis. The focus is no longer on the preventive mechanisms and checks and balances, but rather simply on means to rectify the consequences for public finances. The long term thinking was replaced by a one-track mind mid-term strategy.
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Does it mean employment is still at the core of the strategy?
RJ. It is ambiguous. One might have the impression that labour market policies are still at the core because many targets from the Lisbon Strategy have been retained in the Europe 2020 counterpart.