# Skills Portability Initiative (SPI) Canonical URL: https://digital-acquis.eu/initiative/skills-portability-initiative-spi Entry type: initiative Source edition current through: 17 July 2026 (2026-07-17). This is not a page modification date. Status: forthcoming. A delivered initiative is not necessarily legislation in force. Instrument: Law Date as recorded: Q3 2026 Date kind: quarter Status note: JF-2473 seated decision S058 (2026-08-14). Promised timeline: Planned for Q3 2026. Record content updated: 2026-08-14 ## Summary The initiative will remove barriers to cross-border work by making skills and qualifications usable across the Single Market. It will consider a legislative proposal to ease mobility and promote common EU formats for interoperable digital credentials, building on EQF, Europass and ESCO. Recognition in regulated professions will be expanded and modernised using digital tools, while simpler common rules will be explored to recognise third-country nationals’ skills. In parallel, the EU will develop a framework for automatic recognition of qualifications and learning periods in school, VET and higher education, and examine accession to the Lisbon Recognition Convention. ## Sources - [Official source]() ## Action items (0; complete published list) ## Citing documents - [Political Guidelines 2024-29]() — status: not recorded. The Political Guidelines link European competitiveness with industrial renewal, digital innovation and simpler rules for businesses. They propose support for AI, data sharing, biotechnology and strategic investment, alongside cleaner energy, circular production and changes to public procurement. A Union of Skills would connect education, training and recognition of qualifications across borders. The programme also covers hospital cybersecurity, protection against online manipulation and harmful platform design, and measures to improve working conditions. International partnerships and economic security form part of this agenda, while institutional reforms and stronger cooperation on lawmaking are intended to support its implementation. Source document doc-002, action item 30030: > We need to make sure that we benefit from all high-quality skills irrespective of where and how they were acquired. This is why we will continue to work towards a European Degree and will put forward a Skills Portability Initiative to ensure a skill acquired in one country is recognised in another. - [Commission work programme 2026 + Annex]() — status: not recorded. The 2026 work programme sets out planned legislation and policy initiatives across competitiveness, technology, energy and social policy. It includes changes to company rules, innovation and procurement, together with proposals concerning advanced materials, chips, cloud infrastructure, quantum technology and biotechnology. Other work covers product rules, circularity, energy systems, capital markets and competition procedures. Security and border-management measures sit alongside proposals on jobs, labour mobility, education, digital fairness and audiovisual media. Better regulation and intergenerational fairness are also part of this programme, which records indicative timetables and proposed legal bases. Source document doc-009, action item 100028: > Fair labour mobility package: - Proposal for a European Social Security Pass (legislative, Article 48 TFEU, Q3 2026). - Strengthen the European Labour Authority (legislative, Articles 46 and 48 TFEU, Q3 2026). - Skills portability initiative (legislative, Articles 46, 53 and 62 TFEU, Q3 2026) - [One Europe, One Market Roadmap]() — status: delivered. The roadmap organises planned work around simpler rules, a more integrated Single Market, trade, affordable energy and the digital transition. It sets milestones for measures affecting company formation, investment, procurement, products, research and labour mobility. Energy priorities cover grids, infrastructure, security and decarbonisation, while the digital programme includes business wallets, communications networks, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, chips and quantum technology. Trade agreements and measures addressing supply-chain dependencies complete the programme. By placing these initiatives in a common timetable, the roadmap connects the policy agenda with specific stages of legislative work and investment projects. Source document doc-013, action item 140021: > Skills Portability Initiative (Proposal: Q3 2026) Q3 2027 - [Competitiveness Compass]() — status: not recorded. The Competitiveness Compass brings together work on innovation, industrial transition and the conditions for businesses to grow in Europe. Its agenda spans startups, strategic technologies, research and investment, alongside affordable energy, cleaner industry and circular production. Measures on the Single Market, simpler rules, procurement and standardisation accompany this sectoral work. The programme also includes trade partnerships, raw-material supplies, security and preparedness. Skills, labour mobility and quality jobs connect the economic agenda with workforce needs. The programme combines strategies, legislative proposals, investment initiatives and coordination measures across these policy areas. Source document doc-019, action item 180047: > Skills Portability Initiative [2026] - [Clean Industrial Deal]() — status: not recorded. The Clean Industrial Deal connects industrial decarbonisation with affordable energy, investment and demand for cleaner products. Its measures address electricity costs, permitting, grid infrastructure, state aid and finance for industrial projects. Product standards, procurement and support for circular production are intended to strengthen markets for low-carbon goods and access to raw materials. The programme also covers trade partnerships and changes to the carbon border mechanism. Skills, quality jobs and measures supporting a fair transition accompany the industrial agenda, linking changes in production with the needs of workers and communities. Source document doc-023, action item 220041: > Skills Portability Initiative 2026 - [Union of Skills]() — status: delivered. Union of Skills measures span basic education, digital learning, science and technology education, vocational training, higher education and labour-market mobility. The programme lists action on basic skills, a Skills Guarantee, skills academies, university-business partnerships, portability and recognition of qualifications, a European degree or label, and talent attraction. It also includes support for teachers and academic staff, school and university alliances, and ways for international talent to enter the EU. Its timetable combines pilots, strategies, frameworks and legal arrangements intended to connect education and training with skills needs. Source document doc-025, action item 240014: > Skills Portability Initiative [2026] - [Startup and Scaleup Strategy]() — status: not recorded. The strategy aims to make it easier for innovative companies to start, grow and operate across Europe. It combines simpler company rules and digital administration with better access to finance, markets, talent and research infrastructure. Proposed measures include the 28th regime, the European Business Wallet, regulatory sandboxes and support for deep-tech investment. Work on research commercialisation, intellectual property and procurement is intended to help ideas reach customers. Talent initiatives address education, mobility and recruitment, while common definitions, a scoreboard and an annual founder survey would track changes in the startup and scaleup environment. Source document doc-035, action item 330030: > present a Fair Labour Mobility Package, including clarification of social security coordination rules in case of cross-border remote work and a Skills Portability Initiative to further facilitate and simplify the recognition of qualifications, including for third country nationals (2026). - [Towards a 28th regime for EU companies]() — status: not recorded. Source document doc-096, action item 680011: > Attracting and retaining talent: EU Inc. companies need also favourable employmentand taxation conditions to retain and attract talent and swiftly operate across borders. In the area of employment, with the forthcoming Fair Labour Mobility package, the Commission will explore the possibility to allow 100% cross-border telework for startups and scaleups across the Union, applying the social security legislation of the Member State where the employer is located. The Commission will also develop a legal framework to speed up the digitalisation of social security attestations through the European Social Security Pass initiative. The Skills Portability Initiative will aim to remove obstacles to mobility of workers linked to qualifications and skills, including through digitalisation. The Commission will explore ways to simplify procedures for handling the recognition and validation of qualifications and skills of third country nationals. These measures will be complemented by attracting talent from abroad through the EU Talent Pool Regulation, which, once operational, will facilitate job-matching in the recruitment of non-EU talent. The Commission will further explore the feasibility of an ‘Omnibus’ of targeted amendments to the EU’s legal migration framework to ensure that is aligned with the Union’s competitiveness and innovation objectives. ## Current developments Latest updates from Digital Policy Alert and Global Trade Alert. No reviewed developments available; this does not establish that no developments exist. ## Associated policy priorities - [Human Capital, Skills & Talent Mobility]() ## Broader policy context (shared priority; not a direct citation) - [2030 Roadmap on the Future of Digital Education and Skills]() — status: forthcoming. The roadmap will steer Europe’s digital education transformation, building on the review of the Digital Education Action Plan. It will promote equal access, build a digital education ecosystem, and forge partnerships with EU-based EdTech. An accompanying AI in Education initiative will set an AI literacy framework, support safe, ethical AI uptake in classrooms, and address online safety, wellbeing and misinformation. The Roadmap complements the Union of Skills and the STEM Plan, enlarging Europe’s AI-capable talent pool. The Digital Competence Framework will be updated by end-2025 to reflect emerging technologies. It will strengthen teacher capacity through targeted support and guidance. - [Action Plan on Basic Skills]() — status: delivered. The plan will lift literacy, numeracy, science, digital and citizenship skills, tackling underachievement. A Basic Skills Support Scheme will pilot interventions with EU funding, from early identification and tutoring to school-level improvement plans. A European Innovative School Award will recognise innovation and partnerships with businesses and local authorities. The Commission will pilot university–business partnerships via Erasmus+, Digital Europe and EIT to train for shortage sectors and co-develop micro-credentials. The plan will expand the European Alliance for Apprenticeships to 700 pledges and streamline the Pact for Skills (linking EU Skills Academies, CoVEs and European Universities) to double 25-million upskilling commitments. - [Digital Competence Framework (DigComp 3.0)]() — status: not recorded. DigComp 3.0 provides a common framework for identifying and describing the key areas of digital competence. Its use spans employment, education and digital-skills training across the EU, with adoption in at least 22 Member States and use as a basis or guide for 27 digital-skills certification schemes in 25 countries. The Joint Research Centre presented the new version in an online event for policymakers, employers, educators and researchers working on digital competence development. - [Digital Skills Academies]() — status: not recorded. The EU will deploy a targeted network of Skills Academies anchored by a flagship AI Skills Academy and complemented by a Quantum Skills Academy, a Cybersecurity Skills Academy (with an Industry–Academia network and cyber-campuses), and Net-Zero Industry Academies. Academies will offer one-stop training, apprenticeships and fellowships, returnships for women, and competitions. Building on Large-Scale Partnerships, a rollout will serve strategic sectors: defence, automotive, grids, wind, food, AI, quantum, virtual worlds and semiconductors. Coordinated under the Union of Skills and linked to the Clean Industrial Deal, the EIT will equip 1 million learners by 2028, with gender and mobility targets across Europe. - [EU Literacy Coalition]() — status: forthcoming. The EU Literacy Coalition is an initiative announced under the Union of Skills and the Action Plan on Basic Skills. The Commission says the Coalition will be established in autumn 2026. In preparation, the Commission held a conference on reading and literacy in Warsaw from 5 to 7 May, followed by a two half-day stakeholder workshop to lay the ground for the Coalition. The Commission presents the initiative as a joint approach across education and culture that brings together the cultural, creative, education and book sectors in response to declining literacy competences and reading habits. - [EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda]() — status: forthcoming. The Teachers and Trainers Agenda is an initiative within the Union of Skills aimed at tackling shortages, improving conditions and strengthening careers for educators. The wider strategy seeks to help people access quality jobs, help companies find talent and make skills portable across the EU. It includes action on basic skills, STEM, vocational education and training, upskilling, reskilling, skills intelligence and talent attraction. - [EU Visa Policy Strategy]() — status: delivered. EU Visa Policy Strategy sets out changes to make visa tools more responsive to readmission, security and border-management cooperation. In 2026, the Commission plans a new framework for visa-exemption assessments, a Visa Code revision and the launch of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System. The measures cover restrictive visa options, digitalised procedures, travel-document security, longer-validity multiple-entry visas, support for innovation talent, border-management IT and a proposed EU Visa Support Office within a revised Frontex mandate. - [European School Alliances]() — status: forthcoming. The programme will knit Europe’s education and innovation fabric into a single, high-performing network. Universities alliances will launch joint programmes (especially in AI, quantum, semiconductors, data and cybersecurity) under a European degree/label, backed by an EU legal status and an investment pathway that secures long-term cooperation, shared infrastructures, and partnerships with business and research. In schools, a 2026 pilot will create European School Alliances to boost pupil and teacher mobility, enable cross-border cooperation between schools and authorities, and serve as testbeds for pedagogy, curricula and competence frameworks. Alliances will help schools become learning organisations focused on mastering basic skills. - [European Skills High Level Board]() — status: not recorded. The Board will be the steering hub of the Union of Skills, chaired by the Commission and uniting business leaders, education and training providers, and social partners. It delivers cross-sector insight and guidance on skills issues, drawing on evidence from the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and aligning action with the competitiveness steering mechanism. It will support a new EU-27 Recommendation on human capital and inform country-specific recommendations, while taking into account the Digital Decade Board’s advice on digital basic skills. With a dynamic, agile set-up, the Board can convene stakeholders quickly and accelerate implementation across sectors. - [European Strategy for VET]() — status: forthcoming. The Strategy upgrades VET into a first-choice pathway for competitiveness, cohesion and generational renewal. It tackles skills shortages by modernising curricula with employers, expanding work-based learning, and boosting mobility and internationalisation (via Erasmus+ and a pilot European VET diploma/label in 2025–26). It raises excellence and inclusiveness, combats gender stereotypes, and sets a 2030 STEM target: at least 45% of initial medium-level VET enrolment, with one in four women. Centres of Vocational Excellence will scale transnational partnerships and drive national reforms, while recognition frameworks ease cross-border learning and careers, making VET as valued as higher education across the Union. - [Fair Labour Mobility Package]() — status: forthcoming. The Package will remove frictions to cross-border work while safeguarding rights, making Europe’s labour market more efficient. It will propose a European Social Security Pass for digital verification of entitlements, streamline posting procedures, and clarify social-security coordination for cross-border remote work. The package will strengthen the European Labour Authority’s mandate and data capabilities to improve enforcement and joint inspections. A Skills Portability Initiative will simplify recognition of qualifications and interoperable digital credentials, including for third-country nationals. Together, these measures cut administrative burden for employers and workers, enable service provision, and support talent circulation across the Single Market. - [Intergenerational Fairness Strategy]() — status: delivered. The Commission will present the first EU-wide strategy to embed long-term, intergenerational perspectives across policymaking. It will: (1) strengthen intergenerational democratic participation and scrutiny; (2) tackle cross-cutting challenges (i.e. climate, housing, fiscal sustainability, skills and lifelong learning) through an intergenerational lens; and (3) empower all ages, combating ageism and protecting children’s rights. The strategy is being co-created via a 2025 four-phase process and may include a monitoring tool for intergenerational fairness. It will align with the Union of Skills agenda and related education actions, ensuring no generation is left behind. It will propose metrics and mainstream youth participation. - [MSCA Choose Europe for Science]() — status: not recorded. Choose Europe will co-fund recruitment programmes that link MSCA grants to long-term positions, tackling precarity and drawing top researchers to Europe, including in AI. It sits within a wider talent-magnet approach: a new Visa Strategy to better use the Students & Researchers and Blue Card Directive, pilots of Multipurpose Legal Gateway Offices, and an EU Talent Pool plus a 2030 target to host at least 350,000 non-EU tertiary graduates annually. Complementary quantum actions include a European Quantum Talent Mobility Programme and a Pilot for Researchers-in-Residence in quantum startups. Together, this integrates R&I careers, mobility and immigration tools into one offer. - [Quality Jobs Act]() — status: forthcoming. Developed with EU social partners in 2025, the Quality Jobs Roadmap will set a coherent EU strategy to raise job quality alongside competitiveness. It will back fair wages, high health-and-safety standards, decent working conditions, work-life balance, gender equality and wider collective bargaining; strengthen enforcement of work-related rights; and support access to training and fair job-to-job transitions, drawing on the European Pillar of Social Rights. It will align with the Competitiveness Compass, Union of Skills and the Clean Industrial Deal so decarbonisation creates attractive jobs and regional cohesion, and may announce targeted legislative and non-legislative actions with robust monitoring and evaluation. - [Recommendation on Human Capital]() — status: delivered. The Commission will introduce a recommendation on education and skills within the European Semester to anchor the Union of Skills in the competitiveness steering mechanism. It will be underpinned by the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and advised by a European Skills High-Level Board, ensuring timely, granular evidence and guidance. The recommendation will target structural reforms across the skills pipeline (i.e. basic education, VET, higher education and lifelong learning) linking them to labour-market needs. It will inform Council debates, the Joint Employment Report and country reports/CSRs, and promote whole-of-government coordination across education, employment and economic portfolios, nationally. - [STEM Education Strategic Plan]() — status: delivered. The EU will reverse declining STEM performance and close talent gaps by 2030 through enrolment targets (45% of initial VET in STEM, 32% tertiary, and 5% ICT PhDs) with gender goals (≥25% women in VET, 40% tertiary, 33% ICT PhDs). It will modernise curricula via a STEM competence framework, pilot STEM education centres, and launch Advanced Digital Skills Competitions. Universities and Centres of Vocational Excellence will offer joint programmes and micro-credentials aligned with industry, moving toward a European degree for engineers. A Teachers & Trainers Agenda and actions under the Union of Skills will boost capacity and attractiveness. --- [Reading guide and interpretation notes]() · [Methodology]()