ABSTRACT
The Community shall have as its task, by establishing a common market and an economic and monetary union and by implementing common policies or activities [..] to promote throughout the Community a harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of economic activities, a high level of employment and of social protection, equality between men and women, sustainable and non-inflationary growth, a high degree of competitiveness and convergence of economic performance, a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, the raising of the standard of living and quality of life, and economic and social cohesion and solidarity among Member States. [Amsterdam Treaty on the European Union, Article 2]
1 Introduction
The most dominant feature of the European Union, in the stability-oriented framework of EMU, is the mediocrity of its employment growth and level with respect not only to what the Union was able to sustain during the 1960s but also compared with the United States and Japan.
