CEEP welcomes the priorities identified by the Commission in the ‘New Skills Agenda for Europe’. “Employers of public services keep struggling to match skill needs and workers. All the measures taken to effectively reduce skill mismatches are key to shape a society economically performant and inclusive”, explained CEEP General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti. Identifying and addressing skill needs and increasing the comparability of qualifications across Europe are priorities to encourage job creation and facilitate mobility.

Amongst the proposed initiatives, CEEP particularly supports the launch of a ‘Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition’, which is an important step to accompany the digital transformation. “For public services providers, adapting to the digital era and finding the workforce with the right skills remains a major challenge which requires solutions”, emphasized Valeria Ronzitti. Some elements of solution on the digital transformation of the EU labour market were put forward in CEEP Opinion ‘Harnessing the Digital Transformation of Public Services’.

Also, the facilitation of the integration of migrants and refugees in European labour market was called for by the EU economic and social partners in a joint statement in March 2016. The creation of a ‘Skills Profile Tool’ goes in the right direction and could directly contribute to addressing the refugee crisis by better recognising their skills and qualifications. A Renewed European Qualifications' Framework is also necessary to encourage mobility across Europe, which could benefit both Europeans and third country nationals.

CEEP will closely follow the rolling out of the Commission Action Plan, and looks forward to building up an effective partnership with the Commission on this issue.