One of the essential and most visible components of the Europe 2020 strategy consists of five targets Europe should reach by 2020. In the European council it was agreed upon that each country should define its own quantitative targets, taking into account their relative starting positions and national specific conditions.
In the preliminary version of the National Reform Programme of November 2010 the Belgian governments have agreed upon the margins for the five targets, with the exception of the target concerning energy efficiency. In order to establish final (headline) targets, the federal government asked the Federal Planning Bureau to draw up a preparatory document which points out tracks to facilitate the political discussion on the targets. The Federal Planning Bureau was instructed to cooperate with federal and regional experts in different fields and with experts from the National Bank of Belgium. They examined which starting point is the most correct from a technical perspective and which scenario is the best from a methodological perspective. In addition, they verified whether it was possible to draw up a list of the measures aimed at reaching the targets.
To that end, five working groups were created, one for each target. The results of the activities of the five working group were gathered in a report. That report was used as input for the political discussion and can therefore be considered as a preparatory document for establishing the National Reform Programme of April 2011.
