The European Commission will present a communication on a Union of Skills in the first week of March. This is part of the ‘European Education Area’ initiative and will focus on adult and lifelong learning, vocational education, training, and skills retention.

European countries are currently experiencing a significant shortage of skilled and qualified labour, which affects many companies.

In particular, there is a shortage of skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and information and communication technologies (ICT).

The European Commission’s latest policy guidelines for the period 2024-2029 put a strong emphasis on tackling the digital skills shortage in the EU.

One of the main priorities of the creation of the Skills Union will be to address these labour and skills gaps across the EU.

The Skills Union strategy will focus on the following aspects, among others:

• skills and their cross-border portability;
• encouraging more women into STEM fields;
• Promoting the European Diploma to encourage mobility and the recognition of qualifications across the EU.

This plan, which should be ambitious, will aim to boost investment in lifelong learning, skills retention and the recognition of different types of training, helping citizens to work seamlessly across borders.

The Draghi report, which also emphasised the urgency of closing the skills gap in Europe, highlighted the crucial role of digital skills in promoting future economic growth.

Both the Commission guidelines and the report called for measures to ensure that Europe remains competitive in an increasingly digital world.

Commissioner Roxana Mînzatu will be responsible for the development and creation of the Union of Skills, designing a comprehensive strategy centred on investment, adult and lifelong learning, vocational education and training, the retention and recognition of skills and the enhancement of skills knowledge.

According to the President of the European Commission, Commissioner Mînzatu will have to ensure that it is a collective and inclusive project, including all stakeholders at government, education and business level.

The Union of Competences will involve continuing work in the European Education Area to promote a common approach to skills development, learning mobility, quality and inclusion, in particular by strengthening the Erasmus+ programme.

It should also continue work on the European Diploma as the flagship of quality learning mobility.

It will prepare an initiative on skills portability to ensure that skills and qualifications acquired in one country are recognised in another. This includes intensifying work on the recognition of qualifications.

It will contribute to efforts on legal migration to help attract people with the right skills to meet the needs of the EU labour market, starting with the talent pool.

It should develop a European strategy for vocational education and training, including increasing the number of people with a secondary vocational education and training qualification, including apprenticeships.

It will develop a Basic Skills Action Plan and a Strategic Plan for STEM Education to address two of the most striking gaps. This plan should be supported by the revision of the Digital Education Action Plan, along with the adoption of a roadmap for the future of digital education and training.

Work under the Pact for Skills will be developed based on large-scale partnerships to improve skills and retrain more workers in key industrial ecosystems.

An EU Teachers’ Agenda should also be developed to help improve their working conditions, training and career prospects. In this context, the possibility of launching a European Alliance of Schools will be studied to encourage better cross-border cooperation and mobility between schools across Europe.

Our team is at your disposal for more information.