Brussels, 06/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Union's strategy for new skills in Europe will be presented on Friday 10 June. It will be based around 10 key initiatives, including a guarantee for skills.
Reform of the Europass, the European passport for training and vocational qualifications is, however, postponed for what have been described to us as "technical problems".
As we previously indicated (see EUROPE 11561), the strategy is aimed at helping people with poor skills and has three goals: (1) improve the quality and relevance of acquiring skills; (2) making skills and qualifications more visible and comparable and (3) providing citizens with more information about the skills sought on the labour market, in an effort to facilitate career choices.
Skills guarantee. A skills guarantee is at the heart of the project. One European source indicated during a seminar for EU 28 journalists on Monday 6 June that "This initiative will take the shape of a Council recommendation. This means that it will not be compulsory. Its aim is to step up political pressure on member states in an effort to encourage them to revise their systems, work out target groups and so on. The world of work and education need to be better connected".
In practical terms, the recommendation is encouraging member states to provide better accompaniment to people with few qualifications. This will be done in two ways: working on the "qualifications" section, by helping these people to obtain basic skills (reading and arithmetic); working on the "skills" section by encouraging under qualified people to start higher education courses. Member states are expected to publish their action plan in 2017. The recommendation will propose guidelines, highlight good practices, encourage networking and organise follow-up in member states.
Contrary to their "Youth Guarantee" of 2013, the Commission does not envisage any specific funding. The Commissioner responsible for this area, Marianne Thyssen, indicated "The multiannual financial framework envisaged co-financing for the Youth Guarantee. This is not the case for the skills guarantee". This European official explained that "It is very difficult to know how much the guarantee for skills is going to cost. This depends on each national situation but the member states will be able to use European funds, such as the European Social Fund, the European Fund for Regional Development and Erasmus +. (…) The regulation on the European Social Fund already plans to co-finance action relating to education and there will therefore not be any reduction in other sectors".
10 key measures in total. The strategy does not end with the recommendation on a skills guarantee. It will also introduce a review of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), a toolbox for third country nationals and a roadmap for encouraging sectoral cooperation and skills. In an effort to explain the way the toolbox operated, Ms Thyssen indicated "Member states must make an early evaluation of refugees and asylum seekers' skills. Their skills also need to be made more visible and comparable". In the context of the roadmap, she mentioned subjects such as automobiles, defence and textiles as target sectors.
The general communication will also announce other key initiatives for the next few months. It is therefore assessing the 2016 measures for promoting the development of digital skills, as well as a revision of the decision introducing the Europass system for transparency and qualifications and skills. It is also planning for a revision in 2017 of the key skills framework, as well as measures for increasing the attractiveness of education and professional training.
According to the Commission, a fifth of Europeans (70 million adults) experience problems reading, writing and arithmetic. Malta is the country most affected. Almost 40% of companies have said they have difficulty in recruiting staff with the required skills, including digital skills. At the same time, it is estimated that around 25% of young highly skilled workers say that they are overqualified for the jobs they occupy. Inappropriate skill sets is particularly widespread in Estonia (70%), although this figure stands at just 20% of Cyprus. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)