ABSTRACT
Economy, demography and politics are the cornerstones of the megatrends for the EU. The
amount of population and the volume of the economy are simple quantitative indicators
related to more complex qualitative challenges, for example, aging. In 2010, there were
85 million people in the EU older than 65 years. By 2030, it is forecast that this
number will have increased to 131 million, which will be more than one in four inhabitants
in the EU. In the economy, the EU has progressed only slowly towards entrepreneurial
knowledge-based economy. The Lisbon Strategy to become the globally leading
economy by 2010 failed. According to the new strategies, by 2020 the EU has smarter
and greener sustainable economy (CEC, 2010). A particular challenge for the EU is the
rise of China in the global economy and the strengthening of the economic ties between
China and the US, Africa, Central Asia and other areas outside the EU (see Doucet, 2010).
