On 5 March 2025, the European Commission published a long-awaited communication on the Union of Skills, which aims to support the development of quality, inclusive and adaptable education, training and skills systems to increase the EU’s competitiveness by addressing skills shortages and gaps, and other structural challenges highlighted in the Draghi, Letta, and Niinistö reports. 

The key components of the Union of Skills focus on the following: 

1. Building skills for quality lives and jobs, by implementing the Basic Skills Support Scheme; the STEM education strategic plan; the new EU Vocational Education and Training (VET) Strategy. 
2. Regular upskilling and reskilling, through the expanded use of micro-credentials as flexible learning solutions, the Pact for Skills supporting new skills in strategic sectors, a Skills Guarantee, and the roll-out of EU Skills Academies to provide businesses with the skills needed for the green transition and the Clean Industrial Deal. 
3. Helping the free movement of workers, via a Skills portability initiative, a European degree facilitating the development of innovative joint study programmes across the EU, a new European VET diploma, strengthening of European Universities alliances and Centres of Vocational Excellence, and building European School Alliances to enhance teacher and student mobility. 
4. Attracting, developing, and retaining talent, through an EU Talent Pool for the recruitment of jobseekers from outside the EU, a Visa Strategy to make it easier for top students, skilled workers, and researchers to come to the EU, a ‘Choose Europe’ initiative under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions to attract and retain talent. 

To achieve these objectives, the Union of Skills will be informed by a European Skills Intelligence Observatory, and rely on a European Skills High-Level Board, to provide comprehensive insights on skills to the EU policy makers, in collaboration with education and training providers, business leaders, and social partners.  

The Commission will introduce a new Recommendation on education and skills in the European Semester, the annual exercise that coordinates the EU's economic and social policies, to guide EU countries and relevant actors. 

Education stakeholders have broadly welcomed the initiative, particularly appreciating a broader interpretation of skills in a lifelong learning context, i.e. beyond those needed by the labour market, and the placement of (higher) education at the heart of the initiatives supporting competitiveness. On the other hand, questions have been raised about the sufficiency of the proposed measures to tackle the problems at stake, about the crucial role of member states and the availability of necessary accompanying resources, as well as about the links between some of the new components – e.g. the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and the already in development European Higher Education Observatory – to name just one example. Stakeholders likewise expressed a wish for in-depth debates in the coming months on some of the key components, given that the Communication had to be put together under incredible speed, with close to no room for in-depth expert discussions, in order to meet the 100 days since the start of the new European Commission deadline.