Interview with Maria Vittoria D’Inzeo and Anna Nikowska, Policy officers at the European Commission
The Pact for Skills has been launched by the Commission in November 2020. Can you introduce it in a nutshell?
There is a strong potential in boosting joint action to maximise the impact of skills investment. Skills policies and actions are shared between many players. Companies, workers, education and training providers, national, regional, and local authorities, chambers of commerce, and employment services are among the ones who contribute to making up and reskilling a reality. Concerted efforts can bring clarity to individuals and companies throughout the value chain, reduce costs and focus on priorities.
This is why the Commission is launching a Pact for Skills — a shared engagement and approach to skills development. The Pact aims to mobilise and incentivise private and public stakeholders to take concrete action for the upskilling and reskilling of people of working age, and, when relevant, pool efforts in the partnerships.
Which are the main European policies and principles on which the Pact is based?
The Pact is firmly anchored in the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and supports the goals of the Green Deal and the digital transformation, as set out in the Commission communication “A strong Social Europe for Just Transitions”.
How is the Pact supposed to be implemented?
All stakeholders joining the Pact sign up to the Charter and its key principles, which they agree to respect and uphold. Signatories of the Pact are invited to translate their engagement into concrete commitments on upskilling and reskilling. Commitments must be in line with the key principles and can be built around a number of “enablers” that illustrate concrete ways of implementing the different principles. Commitments are monitored by at least one key performance indicator, e.g. the number of people taking part in upskilling or reskilling. The Pact can be implemented by:
- Individual companies or other private or public organisations
- Regional or local partnerships
- Industrial or cross-sectoral partnerships
EO4GEO is the Blueprint Sectoral Skills Alliance in the space geo-information sector: in which way it can support the Pact for Skills?
The work carried out by the EO4GEO Blueprint for the creation of a Sectoral Skills Strategy and related Long Term Action Plan agreed by all consulted stakeholders from the space Earth Observation and Geo-information sector constitute a solid basis for setting up a dedicated partnership in this sector. This partnership will further complement the efforts of the recently launched Aerospace and Defence Pact for Skills focused on the space upstream and manufacturing segment, whilst exploiting synergies with other industrial ecosystems to address the skill gaps and mismatch.
How the Commission can support the transition from the Blueprint Alliance to the Skills Partnership?
Overarching EU funding, namely the Recovery and Resilience Facility and relevant funding instruments under the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021–2027 can support the Pact and should be fully used. These include programmes such as the European Social Fund Plus, REACT_EU, the Just Transition Fund, Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, the European Regional Development Fund, InvestEU, and the Modernisation Fund.
From 2022, the Commission will further support the signatories of the Pact through dedicated services, notably:
1. Networking hub, including: support in finding partners and first meetings of the partnerships; linking with existing EU tools, e.g. Europass, Skills Panorama, EURES, and Network of Public Employment Services; promotion of the activities of the Pact members.
2. Knowledge hub, including: webinars, seminars peer learning activities; updates on the EU policies and instruments; information on projects, tools instruments, and best practices
3. Guidance and resources hub, including: access to information on relevant EU funding; guidance to identify financial possibilities; facilitation of exchange between the Pact members and national/regional authorities.
