On the governance of the European Year, the members of the Presidium emphasise that:

• in the future, the European Commission should run a consultation procedure well in advance of a decision to designate a particular topic to an upcoming European Year.
• the European Commission also needs to communicate awareness-raising and participation opportunities for stakeholders in future European Years earlier and more systematically.

In terms of policy issues to be further addressed in the context of the European Year of Skills, the members of the Presidium stress that:

• further awareness-raising and policy measures on reskilling and upskilling including in public services should be duly pursued in the context of the European Year of Skills.
• the European Year of Skills should further strive to highlight the importance of training opportunities for staff being fostered and encouraged by employers and policy makers.
• the principle of free movement in the Single Market and the mutual recognition of qualifications in the EU should be further improved as part of the European Year of Skills.
• EU cohesion policy and the EU’s structural and investment funds as well as the EU’s neighbourhood policy should be further tailored to mitigate causes and consequences of emigration brain drain (skills drain).
• in education specifically, the European Year of Skills should further emphasise the necessary adaption in teaching and learning to labour-market relevant digital and skills relevant to the green transition. However, it should not miss to stress that general primary and secondary education curricula must not be emptied of subjects that help young people become responsible citizens of tomorrow.
• the European Year of Skills should stress that adaptations in education programmes require sufficient investments in necessary adjusted learning and teaching material, equipment and facilities, and training for educators and teachers.
• the European Year of Skills should serve to highlight that addressing low pay, high strain and stress levels, deficient occupational health and safety, and a low recognition of the value of work in sectors with labour shortages is a precondition for workers to be willing to upskill in a sector or to re-skill into a sector.
• the European Year of Skills should emphasise that to counter teacher and trainer shortages, their employment and working conditions must improve in many Member States in order to attract, recruit and retain more talented young persons into this occupational field.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “The European Year of Skills aims to address skills gaps, mismatches and imbalances in and among the Member States, to put this on the political agenda of policy makers and social partners, and thus to help reskill people to become more productive in their jobs or retrain to transfer from declining sectors of employment to developing and expanding ones, in particular in the area of industrial digitalisation and greening. As CESI, we welcome this. But we also stress that an improved governance is necessary for the European Year. This pertains in particular to the need to better involve trade unions already in advance of the start of the European Year. We unions are key interlocutors for a successful awareness-raising that the European Year aims to achieve.”

The full position is available here.