The European Commission has published its European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience. 

The EU’s commitment to green and digital transitions, the move to a climate-neutral economy, the advance of AI, as well as demographic changes and the negative impacts of the COVID-19 crisis all call for a paradigm-shift on the skills of workers. The agenda is meant to help up- and re-skill workers through partnering Member States, companies and social partners to work together for change, by empowering people to embark on lifelong learning, and by using the EU budget as a catalyst to unlock public and private investment in people's skills.

The agenda also focuses on the important role of third-country workers, envisioning a more strategic approach to legal migration for better attracting and keeping talent. At the same time, it notes that labour migration should be the benefit of all, stressing also the need to equal access to up-skilling opportunities. To that end, the agenda calls for the support of legally-residing migrants to showcase their skills and qualifications and facilitate their recognition t.

In addition, through its forthcoming Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Commission will aim at enhancing legal pathways to the EU, including through a relaunch of the negotiations on the Blue Card Directive to attract highly skilled workers. The Pact will also provide credible offers of legal migration places as part of new talent partnerships with third countries and explore new legal migration instruments.

The agenda aims to achieve its goals over the next five years through 12 actions:

1. A Pact for Skills
2. Strengthening skills intelligence
3. EU support for strategic national upskilling action
4. Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Vocational Education and Training for sustainable competiveness, social fairness and resilience
5. Rolling out the European universities initiative and upskilling scientists
6. Skills to support the green and digital transitions
7. Increasing STEM graduates and fostering entrepreneurial and transversal skills
8. Skills for Life
9. Initiative on Individual Learning Accounts
10. A European approach to micro-credentials
11. New Europass Platform
12. Improving the enabling framework to unlock Member States' and private investments in skills

More about the vital role migrant workers play in the EU find here. 

More about the EU’s actions facilitating migrants’ access to the labour market find here.