Strasbourg: The European Parliament has adopted its demands for the vocational education strategy that the Commission is preparing, calling for major investment, stronger apprenticeships and easier recognition of qualifications across Europe. The own-initiative report passed at the October plenary session and arrives before the Commission presents its proposal. No date for that proposal has been announced.
Brigitte van den Berg, a Dutch member of Renew Europe from the D66 party, led the work on the report. She said that Europe cannot be competitive if it undervalues the people and skills that keep its industries running. The Renew Europe group presents the text as a push to treat vocational training as an equally valued pathway alongside university study.
The report lists a set of priorities for the vocational education strategy. Parliament wants major investment in modern, high-quality vocational training and closer cooperation between training providers and employers. It also calls for stronger apprenticeships and more opportunities for mobility and lifelong learning.
Recognition of qualifications forms a central theme. Parliament asks for easier recognition across borders so that a trained electrician, welder or care worker can take a job in another member state without long procedures. The point links education policy to the labour shortages that many employers report across the single market.
The timing gives the report extra weight. Parliament cannot force the Commission to propose a particular text, but an adopted position on the record shapes the debate before the college decides what to include. The Commission can now see where a majority of members stands before it finalises the vocational education strategy.
Van den Berg will also lead work on the newly presented Skills Portability Act, which is under negotiation. The two files fit together, since a strategy on training only pays off if skills can travel with workers. No further details or dates on that act have been published.
For ministers and social partners, the report offers an early map of Parliament’s expectations. Employers will look at the language on apprenticeships and cooperation with training providers, while trade unions will watch the references to lifelong learning and mobility.
Regional authorities and national education ministries will also have a stake. Vocational training is largely a national and regional competence, so the vocational education strategy can only guide funding and cooperation rather than rewrite national systems. Parliament’s call for investment therefore points mainly to EU programmes and to coordination between member states.
The next move belongs to the Commission. When it publishes the vocational education strategy, Parliament’s report will serve as the yardstick against which members measure the ambition of the proposal.
