191 © Te Author(s) 2018 R. Heiskala, J. Aro (eds.), Policy Design in the European Union, Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64849-1_9 9 Reproducing or Remaking the Social Contract with Young People in the Europe 2020 Strategy? Eriikka Oinonen and Leena Tervonen-Gonçalves Introduction Europe has sufered a severe economic crisis leaving millions of Europeans unemployed, indebted, excluded, and feeling hopeless and betrayed. Tese problems began as a fnancial crisis in 2007–2008 but soon expanded into economic, political and social domains. Te fnancial sec- tor failed, property bubbles burst and nation-states’ economies collapsed. Austerity measures were adopted to secure bailout loans from the tripar- tite committee known as the Troika, formed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Unemployment rates rocketed, while protests, riots and social unrest took place in the countries worst hit by the crisis (Mason 2012; Feixa and Nofre 2013; Varoufakis 2013). Amid the crisis, the European Commission launched a Europe 2020 strategy, outlining what should be done within the European Union E. Oinonen (*) • L. Tervonen-Gonçalves University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland