The European Employment and Social Rights Forum and the proposed “Union of Skills”

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger participated in the European Employment and Social Rights Forum 2025, Europe’s largest event on employment and social affairs, which took place on March 5-6 in Brussels.

Under the heading “Skills for a Competitive Europe”, the conference aimed at proposing possible solutions to the key problems identified in the communication a “Union of Skills”, adopted the same day: skills shortages and gaps, slow adaptation to technological and green transitions,and a fragmented governance and skills intelligence.

The communication outlines different steps and initiative to address declining literacy, numeracy, and digital skills, to promote STEM education, to improve the attractiveness and support for teaching careers, to expand digital learning and cybersecurity training, and finally to render vocational education more attractive.

Especially in view of the enormous disruptions of labour market in times of transitions, a focus is put on skills rather than just formal qualifications, to ensure that workers can more easily find new new jobs.

To address critical labour shortage, the Commission seeks for instance to have short-term certifications recognized across the EU, to ensure that workers have the expertise needed for emerging industries, to provide sector-specific training in AI, cybersecurity, and clean energy, to improve skills mobility across the EU, and to develop “European Universities Alliances”.

As investments remain key to sustaining these efforts, the Commission proposes to mobilize public and private financing for education and training, to create incentives for companies to encourage greater employer investment in workforce development, and to enhance data collection and forecasting to better match skills supply with labor market needs.

Klaus Heeger said: “This ambitious package aims at building a future-ready workforce and at strengthening European competitiveness. If implemented at large scale, upskilling and reskilling policies could play a major role in safeguarding our competitiveness, in implementing green and digital transitions, and in saving employment. The proposals must also be appreciated as they coincide with long-standing demands of our teachers, education and VET providers. What pleases me the most are two things: First, a focus is laid on the importance of the teaching profession by improving the attractiveness and support for teaching careers. Second, civic education is mentioned as a key pillar of lifelong learning, democratic resilience, and social inclusion. Our teachers repeatedly warned against Europe’s citizens becoming mere instruments of economic systems and new technologies. We must be equipped with critical thinking skills, media literacy, and a strong understanding of democratic values to keep our compass in the modern world.”