CESI Summer Days 2025: Active labour market policies for new EU Quality Jobs Roadmap

As in previous editions during the last years, the Summer Days brought together trade unionists, policymakers, researchers and civil society representatives, this year to discuss on the pivotal role of active labour market policies (ALMPs) in fostering inclusive, resilient, and sustainable employment across Europe – in times of demographic shifts, the digital and green transitions, post-pandemic recovery, and geopolitical uncertainties. As a part of CESI EU co-funded capacity building project ‘Activer’, the Summer Days took place against the background of the new EU Quality Jobs Roadmap that has been announced for later this year by the European Commission.

Day one: Setting the frame for action

The conference opened with a keynote by CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger, who underscored the urgency of aligning employment policies with both current challenges and long-term structural shifts. “We must ensure that active labour market measures are not only reactive but forward-looking,” Heeger noted. “Workers and their representatives must be at the table when policies are designed and implemented.”

Tadas Leončikas (Eurofound) and Janice Schmidt-Altmeyer (German Federal Employment Agency) unpacked recent trends from Eurofound’s European Jobs Monitor and examined the operational capacities of national employment services. Both stressed the need for coherent strategies to address the shrinking working-age population, the rise of services, the digital and green transitions, and persistent gender and regional employment gaps.

Participants then split into three thematic workshops addressing the governance of ALMPs, national good practices, and the role of social dialogue in ensuring fair employment – highlighting that no single actor can deliver ALMPs alone. Reports from workshop facilitators reinforced the necessity of collaboration between EU institutions, national authorities, public employment services, employers, and trade unions.

An institutional panel featuring representatives from the European Commission, the ILO and CESI explored political pathways for advancing ALMPs.

Day two: From policy to practice

The second day zoomed in on how to deliver inclusive ALMPs on the ground. Through keynote addresses and video messages from Oliver Röpke (EESC), and MEPs Li Andersson, Dennis Radtke and Jana Toom, the discussions emphasised ALMPs’ potential to promote sustainable employment and competitiveness, if rooted in social rights and dialogue.

A dedicated panel showcased the perspectives of trade unions and civil society on inclusive activation measures for women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

Workshops later in the day highlighted concrete case studies: vocational education as a motor for employment, ALMPs in the automotive industry’s green transformation, and the labour market integration of Ukrainian refugees — demonstrating the adaptability and sector-specific nature of well-designed policies.

Looking ahead

As Europe prepares for the forthcoming EU Quality Jobs Roadmap, CESI’s Summer Days made clear: ALMPs are not just bureaucratic tools – they are levers of social justice, instruments for decent work, and essential to safeguarding Europe’s social model.

CESI President Romain Wolff closed the event with a reminder: “If we want policies that truly serve workers, then workers must be central to those policies. This is what CESI – and the Activer project – are all about.”

For more on CESI’s Activer project visit CESI's website.

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