The European Commission has today announced the EU Skills Agenda. The package calls for a skills revolution to allow Europeans to adapt to the rapidly changing labour market by upskilling.

The proposal was already being prepared before the pandemic, but Vice-President Margaritis Schinas highlighted that the work on the agenda before and after the COVID-19 crisis means that it is designed for good and bad times; tackling new opportunities that existed before the pandemic and weaknesses exposed by it.

The EU Skills Agenda will be mobile, measurable, ambitious and inclusive. Quantitative targets will be laid out, which should be reached by a deadline in 2025. These 12 objectives will concern improving existing skills and training in new skills. 

The Skills Agenda will not be top-down. Industrial ecosystems should be involved and a Pact for Skills will be finalised by November to ensure all stakeholders are consulted in these actions. So far Member States, training organisations and EU citizens have been consulted in the development of the EU Skills Agenda. 

A Europass has also been launched today - a platform where CVs can be uploaded in all EU languages to boost job opportunities within the EU. 

All 12 objectives are:

• A Pact for Skills
• Stregnething skills intelligence
• EU support for strategic national upskilling action
• Proposal for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience
• Rolling out the European universities initiative and  upskilling scientists
• Skills to support the green and digital transitions
• Increasing STEM graduates and fostering entrepreneurial and transversal skills
• Skills for Life
• Initiative on Individual Learning Accounts
• A European approach to micro-credentials
• New Europass platform
• Improving the enabling framework to unlock Member States' private investments in skills. 

For more information about the EU Skills Agenda, click here.