Dynamics of unemployment and poverty in the EU as a result of developing EU social policy

In the process of European integrations one of the most important issues is Employment and Social Policy predominantly relating to the comprehensive process of social inclusion. Promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion and combating social exclusion and discrimination are fundamental objectives of the European Union identified in the Treaty on the European Union (Article 3), but from the beginning of the XXI century unemployment and poverty are still social problems of the EU and some its member states. There are two important stages of developing social policy in the field of eradicating unemployment and poverty in the EU: 1. the Lisbon Agenda 2000 which delineated that the EU economy should be most competitive, based on knowledge and capable of maintaining sustainable economic development, also through creating more jobs and maintaining social cohesion; 2. the Social Agenda 2000-2005 and the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), the essential instrument which identified combating social exclusion as a priority. On the other hand, the challenges posed by the crisis have led to growing risks of poverty as well as social and labour market exclusion in many EU countries. Divergences within and between Member States are also increasing in this respect. The new EU stage of eradicating these two social problems is the Strategy Europe 2020 for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and two of its flagship initiatives: the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion and the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs.

The paper analyses the problem of unemployment and poverty in the EU from the beginning of the 21^stcentury and examines how the situation has changes in this respect. The aim of this article is to answer the following questions: 1. whether and to what extent the scale of unemployment and poverty in the EU has changed in the years 2000-2013? 2. whether and to what extent the scale of youth unemployment and child poverty in the EU has changed in the years 2000-2013? 3. what are the disparities between EU countries in this regard and which countries will have the biggest problem in the implementation of the Strategy Europe 2020? The analyses are based on data from Eurostat, which documented the visible differences of the scale of unemployment and poverty in the EU.

Key words: Unemployment, youth unemployment, poverty, child poverty, Strategy Europe 2020, EU social policy.