Employment and social affairs ministers have welcomed the new strategy for skills in Europe. During a roundtable discussion on Thursday 13 October, they all recognised the importance of providing young people with appropriate skills. The only downside involved the question of name chosen for the skills guarantee.
The skills agenda in Europe consists of a number of horizontal proposals focusing on areas such as skills development, mutual recognition of qualifications, support for education and vocational training, as well as higher education (see EUROPE 11561).
The discussion on 13 October aimed to achieve two things – to discuss aspects of the agenda relating to employment on the basis of three themes selected by the Slovak Presidency (cooperation between stakeholders, appropriateness of skills and measures involving young people, in particular); and to adopt the opinion of the Employment Committee on this agenda. During the discussions, the majority of member states highlighted the initiatives introduced on their respective territories to tackle youth unemployment. Poland, for example, underlined "major changes in professional training", while Spain and Italy underlined the efforts they had made to develop dual training. Some member states mentioned the challenges, such as the massive arrival of refugees in Sweden or the brain drain in Greece. The Commission stated that it would soon be publishing its skills profiling tool for nationals from third countries.
Employment Committee opinion. At the end of their discussion, the EU28 adopted the opinion from the Employment Committee, supporting the Commission’s agenda. Overall, the committee supports the priorities identified, and is delighted with the attention focusing on people with poor skills. One of the points most criticised by the committee, which was also expressed by France and, to a lesser extent, by Luxembourg, involved the lack of resources in the agenda. The committee particularly criticised the name of the skills guarantee, one of the flagship instruments in the agenda that was supposed to "help poorly skilled adults acquire an minimum level of reading and writing, arithmetic and digital skills, so that they can progress towards a second cycle of secondary education qualifications". The committee believes that the name of this instrument "could provoke expectations that are much too high, given that at the moment there is a particular lack of resources available for responding to this challenge". It concludes that the agenda should to be supported by other measures mentioned in the guidelines, for example, investments in education training systems, access to lifelong learning or learning in the workplace.
The main points in this debate are summed up in a letter that will be sent to the Education Council in charge of this dossier. The opinion can be consulted at: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12485-2016-INIT/en/pdf (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)