The Summit addressed the employability challenge more broadly, too. This is a great challenge to Member States' systems. It means doubling the numbers being equipped to rejoin the workforce, rather than being administered outside it. This stronger emphasis on active, rather than passive, support does not mean more spending. What it does mean is smarter spending, better use of resources, by investment in the productive capacity of the whole workforce.
Costs are, of course, important.
But relieving costs in real terms, in sustainable terms, means enabling more of the workforce to contribute. The Danish example offers us inspiration in this difficult area. It offers proof, too, that restructuring public expenditure to shift finance towards a more active approach can not only address unemployment more effectively, but can also help improve the health of public finances themselves. Denmark has shifted from having one of the most passive systems in the Union, to creating one of the most active, in four short years. In the same period, they have become one of the best three European performers in terms of public finances.