On the 20th of March, the European Commission released its action plan on “Tackling Skills and Labour Shortages in the EU”. This action plan comes as a deliverable of the European Year of Skills and is presented as a follow-up to the Val Duchesse Social Partners Summit that took place in January of this year.  

The action plan sets to put in motion measures in five specific areas: 

  • Supporting the activation of underrepresented people in the labour market 
  • Providing support for skills development, training and education 
  • Improving working conditions in certain sectors 
  • Improving fair intra-EU mobility for workers and learners 
  • Attracting talent from outside the EU 

CECOP welcomes the initiative as addressing skills shortages and investing in training of the workforce of the EU is key to guarantee the competitiveness of European enterprises, including cooperatives. We are especially glad to see the recognition of the value of better working conditions as a means to address skills and labour shortages, and the attention given to the needs of specific sectors such as long-term care and cultural and creative industries. The €65 billions of EU budget planned for Member States to tackle labour and skills shortages will be essential in training the EU workforce, especially if allocated to the right national actors.  

However, the lack of ambition in this action plan is disappointing. The Commission does not commit to new major legislation and heavily relies on the action of social partners - which in return are promised more funding opportunities. We also regret that no specific measures concerning social economy actors have been announced. Worker and social cooperatives are at the forefront of innovation to tackle the challenges raised by skill shortages, as shown in our campaigns CoopSkills and Cooperatives Care!. The Council recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions recognises the importance of social economy actors in providing training opportunities, especially to vulnerable groups. The EU must tap into the potential of cooperatives to achieve its goal of zero long-term unemployment.