Alternative approaches for assessing the European countries economic and social results

The European Union has been passing a complicated period over the last years. The EU economy lags behind its own development goals as well as, behind the results achieved by its economic partners and competitors - USA and Japan. Due to lower competitiveness in the international market environment, the persisting or even expanding problems on the domestic labor markets are evident. Many EU countries demonstrate relatively high unemployment which leads to weakening the income situation of households and strengthening the social tension in society. Particularly worrying is situation of young graduates and also people approaching retirement age and seniors. In context of such arguments, the strategy for perspective development of the EU - the strategic document Europe2020 - has been proposed. Its key objective is to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the European Union, its member countries and particularly the competitiveness of its firms. It is expected that the Europe 2020 objectives will create favorable environment for reducing the social tension across the EU countries and finally lead to the better life of majority of its citizens. All the EU2020 goals are difficult. To achieve them it is necessary to identify precisely the current positions of individual countries and their distances from these ambitious goals in order to select the optimal strategies to their fulfillment. Our paper aims to contribute to identification of the current competitiveness position of the EU and its member states in international market environment and to estimate the chances for achieving the EUROPE 2020 strategic goals. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V.