According to a proposal for a decision issued by the European Commission, the European Year of Skills 2023 should give a fresh impetus to lifelong learning and be implemented as a year of awareness-raising and action-setting in cooperation with the European Parliament, Member States, social partners, public and private employment services, chambers of commerce and industry, education and training providers, and workers and companies all together.

CESI welcomes the overall objective of the European Year to promote a mindset of reskilling and upskilling, as outlined in the proposal for a decision, but regrets an exclusive focus on “boosting the competitiveness of European companies, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises”.

Next to the private sector, the public sector, in particular public services and administrations, also face serious and increasing staff and skills shortages and often find themselves unable to compete for skills and talent with the private sector.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “Before adopting the proposal, the European Parliament and Council should amend it to bring in a clear skills perspective for the public sector.”

CESI also approves of the horizontal approach taken by the proposal that nobody must be left behind in green-digital transitions and all should benefit from more effective and inclusive investment into training and upskilling, job-to-job transitions and active ageing. CESI particularly welcomes a focus on active labour market policies – which skills policy are a core component of – and an emphasis on a comprehensive implementation of the recent Council Recommendation on Effective Active Support to Employment (EASE).

However, CESI disapproves of singling out, in Article 2(3), an incomplete set of selected vulnerable groups that need a specific focus.

Klaus Heeger added: “The European Parliament and Council should amend the proposal to ensure that the European Year of Skills will not discriminate between groups of vulnerable persons, and span, next to women and NEETs, also to the disabled, migrant workers, older workers and workers from ethnic minorities that often find themselves less able to access and remain in labour markets.”

CESI agrees with the commitment stated in Article 2(2) of the proposal to involve social partners in the shaping, design, roll-out and implementation of the Year of Skills, but regrets that the process leading to the European Commission’s proposal has been ad-hoc, untransparent, unannounced and of top-down nature from policy making.

Klaus Heeger concluded: “Skills shortage has been a long-standing challenge in Europe, and it is disappointing that the Year was announced by European Commission President von der Leyen unexpectedly in September, to be followed by a legislative proposal for the Year by the European Commission only four weeks after. Social partners and other interested stakeholders had no opportunity to prepare for input, ideas and suggestions before the announcement earlier during the year, and in late September and early October time was short to engage meaningfully. Moreover, there was no formal ex-ante consultation process. CESI suggests that future Years should be set in a more timely, inclusive and transparent manner and urges the EU institutions to ensure meaningful and level-playing-field engagement of social partners and other stakeholders in the roll-out of the Year in 2023.”

As part of the European Year of Skills in 2023, CESI pledges to contribute to it in joint social partner activities as well as through own actions that aim to raise awareness about the Year among members and affiliates as well as bring their related interests and issues to the attention of the public and policy makers in particular.

CESI suggests that the European Commission, as initiator and coordinator of the Year, should make dedicated funding available for European social partners to carry out actions under the Year, with transparent and equal access for all recognised social partners, sectoral and horizontal ones alike.

CESI full position the governance and roll-out of the European Year of Skills is available here.