Boosting skills in the Union – opportunities for vocational education and training in times of transition

Wording as published by the EP, in English.

1. Amendment 1Rejected

   Paragraph 27

   Tabled by Afroditi Latinopoulou, Antonín Staněk, Majbritt Birkholm +69 · Members

   27. Recognises the essential role of vocational Removed: occupations Added: education and training in safeguarding Europe’s Removed: manufacturing Added: industrial base, energy security, transport systems, construction sector and strategic Removed: infrastructure, and emphasises VET’s potential to deliver quality jobs for the green transition as well as social economy opportunities; Added: infrastructure; calls on the Member States to Removed: position Added: strengthen vocational training and apprenticeships in line with the actual needs of national labour markets and businesses, particularly SMEs, in order to address labour shortages and preserve industrial and traditional know-how; stresses the importance of investing in the skills of the existing workforce and supporting the retraining of workers affected by industrial restructuring; underlines that vocational education and training Removed: as a cornerstone of skills development, particularly for women and young people, and to leverage the next multi-annual financial framework (MFF) to finance upskilling and reskilling in strategic sustainable sectors; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen cooperation in the development of VET learning environments, curricula and practices that respond to the needs arising from the ecological transformation, ensuring that topics such as the circular economy, construction and renovation of sustainable, affordable and climate-resilient housing, energy efficiency and the energy transition are adequately addressed, and that future professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and competences needed to drive sustainable transformation across industries and businesses; Added: should contribute to reindustrialisation, the preservation of local employment and EU competitiveness, while fully respecting Member States’ competences in education and training;

2. Amendment 2Rejected

   Paragraph 29

   Tabled by Afroditi Latinopoulou, Antonín Staněk, Majbritt Birkholm +69 · Members

   29. Stresses that technological Removed: innovation and digitalisation, including Added: innovation, artificial intelligence and Removed: automation, require Added: automation must always remain human-centred while safeguarding industrial competitiveness and that they require the continuous upskilling and Removed: reskilling; emphasises, in this context, the increasing importance of accessible training and basic, sustainability and digital skills for all workers for their current or alternative careers; calls on the Commission to establish an individual right to training for workers as proposed in the Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness16 , available during working time and at no cost to workers; 16 Draghi, M., The future of European competitiveness, September 2024, p. 19 Added: reskilling of workers; calls for training policies that respond to actual labour market needs, prioritise employability and preserve the flexibility of national training systems; underlines that access to training should be promoted through cooperation between employers, workers and social partners, without imposing uniform EU obligations on enterprises;