When we talk about skills, we cannot ignore regional disparities. The European Commission is overlooking this aspect. We need common solutions but we can't ignore regional peculiarities such as digital skills, access to training and infrastructure. The European Committee of the Regions Rapporteur on the European Skills Agenda, Csaba Borboly (RO/EPP), President of Harghita County Council, made these remarks during a meeting of the Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC).
In order to find out the views of young people, an online questionnaire was conducted at EU level. The Rapporteur said that the vast majority of respondents considered that skills development is key for economic recovery. Intervening during the presentation of the opinion, Ádám Karácsony (HU/EPP), member of Tahitótfalu Council said that the fast changing economic and environmental conditions call for a shift to an innovative mind-set of learning new skills to support employment and recovery. From her end EPP-CoR Vice-President, Jelena Drenjanin (SE/EPP), spoke about the need to have a dialogue and to consult with companies in order to match their needs in terms of competences and skills required by the industry.
The SEDEC Commission also discussed the Opinion on Youth Employment Support. Romy Karier (LU/EPP) Rapporteur of the opinion said that although the new proposal goes into the right direction there is still room for improvement. She spoke on the need to tackle discrimination in the labour market and to include a link to youth mobility and entrepreneurship. Karier who is a Member of the Clervaux municipal council also spoke about the involvement of Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) in youth employment support "We need partnerships with the involvement of LRAs and exchange of good practices in the implementation of the youth guarantee."
During the meeting, Emil Boc (RO/EPP), Mayor of Cluj-Napoca was appointed Rapporteur for the opinion on ‘Achieving the European Education Area by 2025’. He will be working on how cities and regions can shape and enrich the quality, inclusiveness, digital and green dimension of the education systems.
SEDEC members also held a debate with Jean Eric Paquet Director-General for Research and Innovation. Boc said that the city science initiative can help cities address urban challenges. He appealed for cities to be prepared to be able to meet the Horizon Europe criteria emphasising on the need of partnerships.