The ETUC campaigns for a balanced macro-economic framework within the EU, incorporating a strong social dimension, and for full employment. It works with all the EU institutions, at the highest level, to formulate economic and employment policies that promote the needs and aspirations of European workers and their families.

In March 2000, at the European Council meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, the EU set itself a itself “a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.” This framework for action until 2010 is known as the Lisbon Strategy. The ETUC has always supported the Strategy, but believes it is not meeting its targets, largely because essential social and environmental objectives are being sacrificed to short-term economic demands. Every spring, the ETUC takes part in the EU Tripartite Social Summit to review progress.