All 27 members of the bloc have agreed to concrete goals in eight areas, including employment, climate and energy, education and poverty.
The objectives dovetail with the 'Europe 2020' strategy and are designed to help the continent recover from the worst recession in decades.
"We are initiating what can be a new phase in European integration," said Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
But even the Commission acknowledged that achieving the targets within the decade could be difficult for countries – such as Spain, Ireland and Portugal – that are slicing spending and forcing dramatic changes in the labour market. And faced with violent street protests and strikes, some politicians may have weak stomachs for the necessary long-term pain.
"There is a risk of a relatively low level of ambition in setting national targets and of an excessive focus on the short term," the Commission wrote in the report. To keep countries on track, there will be a midterm review in 2014.
Clearly, some political leaders are still focusing on their immediate survival or the future of the euro currency.
More money for bailout fund
Barroso confirmed the Commission wants member states to pour more money into the €440 billion temporary bailout fund, which will potentially help countries like Portugal and Spain deal with deteriorating finances.
"We are consulting with member states at this point," Barroso told reporters, adding the "financial capacity [of the European Financial Stability Facility] must be reinforced and the scope widened".
Negotiations ahead of next week's meeting of finance ministers reportedly include a possible aid package for Portugal that could include a loan and debt guarantees, though Portugal's prime minister insists the country doesn’t need a bailout.
National programmes to be approved in July
The draft of the national reform programmes, published Wednesday, will be debated and formalised by the Council in March. Specific national recommendations and guidance on 2012 budgetary policies will be submitted by June and adopted by the Council in July. The process will be repeated in the first half of each year.
This peek-a-boo strategy aims to get countries back in line with targets of the Stability and Growth Pact, which mandates that countries keep their annual budget deficits below 3% of gross domestic product and their national debt levels below 60%. Currently, all but a handful of EU members are in breach of at least one threshold.
The limits were primarily designed to harmonise the economies that use the euro, and therefore surrendered their control over interest rates and other monetary tools to the European Central Bank. And the sovereign debt crisis has taught political leaders the painful lesson of what happens when their fiscal policies are out of whack.
At a summit last month of EU leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We need a more common approach in our economic policies and we will have to talk about this in the coming months, especially in the euro zone. It's not just important to have solid budgets and stable finances but it is also important that we have a common economic policy. Step by step. It will be a long process."
