Aspire EU Policy

Lessons from Four Transnational Partnerships

The project aims & objectives were to tackle four of the big issues facing a European Union anxious to extend participation in today’s labour market:

• Improving the balance between work and family life
• Maximising the potential for women’s participation in the workforce
• Integrating legal newcomers and asylum seekers into the labour market
• Improving lifelong learning for all citizens
  

These are vital matters for a Europe wishing to renew the dynamism and capacity of its economy.

Report Summary

The official unemployment rate for the 27 members of the European Union (EU) fell to 6.8% in July 2007, continuing the steady fall of the last few years. However, there are still estimated to be 16 million men and women in the EU 27 who remain unemployed, while many others remain in low-skilled, poorly paid employment.

The EU through its Lisbon strategy has made its highest priority the achievement of a powerful knowledge-based economy and sustainable economic development. EQUAL, with its focus on those disadvantaged in the labour market, is one of a number of EU initiatives designed to improve Europe’s sluggish economy and help Member States achieve its Lisbon targets for growth and new jobs.

Birmingham and its surrounding area has been involved in four EQUAL programmes. These four Development Partnerships (DPs) embrace a total of nine countries, including four new Member States and fourteen major cities and regions. The four Transnational Partnerships (TPs) – Bridges over Borders, Concentus, Equilibrium and WINGS – have tackled the issues of lifelong learning; refugees and asylum seekers;the reconciliation of work, family and social life; and gender Equality.

The University of Birmingham has assessed the national and transnational activities of each of these partnerships and related them to the objectives and aspirations outlined in the Lisbon Guidelines agreed by the EU in March 2005. We have highlighted a set of eight cross cutting themes related to the Lisbon Guidelines which these EQUAL programmes have addressed. Drawing on the activities and initiatives, which the 17 DPs have undertaken, this final report explores potential lessons for policy-makers and practitioners in the EU, within national government and among regional and local actors.

Find out more by downloading the full report