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This paper analyzes the community employment policy of the European Union (EU) through the execution and results of the so-called European Employment Strategy (EES), created in 1997, as a response to the problems raised by labour and employment transformations. The EES is supported by four fundamental pillars: employability, enterpreneurship, equal opportunities and adaptability. The last pillar is intended to reconcile the different flexibilizing options for employment with the security of labour force protection (flexisecurity) in order to achieve a certain balance in the economy and reach social cohesion. The massive extension of atypical or non-traditional forms of employment, persistent unemployment, particularly long-lasting unemployment, and some workers' collectives (youth, women and the elderly); demographic changes, including ageing of the population as well as the regional disparities among EU member countries, represent serious challenges to achieving the EES aims of reaching full employment, competitiveness and social cohesion, as is evident in the balances performed up to now by its own institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]