# Union of Skills Canonical URL: https://digital-acquis.eu/initiative/union-of-skills Entry type: initiative Source edition current through: 17 July 2026 (2026-07-17). This is not a page modification date. Status: delivered. A delivered initiative is not necessarily legislation in force. Instrument: Communication Date as recorded: 05 Mar 2025 Date kind: date Status note: full date links only to published artifact types ## Summary 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. Its timetable includes pilots, strategies, frameworks and legal arrangements. ## Sources - [Official source]() ## Action items (22; complete published list) ### 1. Action item 240001 Action Plan on Basic Skills [Q1 2025] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 1. Digital dimension: yes. ### 2. Action item 240002 Basic Skills Support Scheme (pilot) [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 2. Digital dimension: yes. ### 3. Action item 240003 2030 Roadmap on the future of digital education and skills [Q4 2025] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 3. Digital dimension: yes. ### 4. Action item 240004 AI in education initiative [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 4. Digital dimension: yes. ### 5. Action item 240005 STEM Education Strategic Plan [Q1 2025] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 5. Digital dimension: yes. ### 6. Action item 240006 EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 6. Digital dimension: yes. ### 7. Action item 240007 European competence framework for academic staff [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 7. Digital dimension: yes. ### 8. Action item 240008 European Strategy for vocational education and training (VET) [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 8. Digital dimension: yes. ### 9. Action item 240009 Increasing accessibility of higher education [2027] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 9. Digital dimension: yes. ### 10. Action item 240010 Intergenerational fairness strategy [Q1 2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 10. Digital dimension: yes. ### 11. Action item 240011 Pilot a Skills Guarantee for workers [2025] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 11. Digital dimension: yes. ### 12. Action item 240012 Roll-out of targeted EU Skills Academies, after a review of existing ones [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 12. Digital dimension: yes. ### 13. Action item 240013 Pilot transnational university-business partnerships for sectors with severe skills gaps [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 13. Digital dimension: yes. ### 14. Action item 240014 Skills Portability Initiative [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 14. Digital dimension: yes. ### 15. Action item 240015 Common European framework for the automatic recognition of study qualifications and learning periods abroad in school, VET and higher education [2027] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 15. Digital dimension: yes. ### 16. Action item 240016 Launch of innovative joint European study programmes with a European degree/label [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 16. Digital dimension: yes. ### 17. Action item 240017 A legal status for European Universities alliances [2027] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 17. Digital dimension: yes. ### 18. Action item 240018 Pilot a European VET diploma [2025-2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 18. Digital dimension: yes. ### 19. Action item 240019 Pilot European School Alliances [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 19. Digital dimension: yes. ### 20. Action item 240020 Launch of the EU Talent Pool IT Platform Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action ‘MSCA Choose Europe’ Pilot [Q4 2025] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 20. Digital dimension: yes. ### 21. Action item 240021 A new Visa Strategy [Q4 2025] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 21. Digital dimension: yes. ### 22. Action item 240022 Launch of Multipurpose Legal Gateway Offices [2026] Provenance: source document doc-025, paragraph 22. Digital dimension: yes. ## Referenced entries - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240003: > 2030 Roadmap on the future of digital education and skills [Q4 2025] - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240001: > Action Plan on Basic Skills [Q1 2025] - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240006: > EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda [2026] - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240019: > Pilot European School Alliances [2026] - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240008: > European Strategy for vocational education and training (VET) [2026] - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240010: > Intergenerational fairness strategy [Q1 2026] - [Skills Portability Initiative (SPI)]() — status: forthcoming. 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. Source document doc-025, action item 240014: > Skills Portability Initiative [2026] - [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. Source document doc-025, action item 240005: > STEM Education Strategic Plan [Q1 2025] ## 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 30028: > To do so, we will establish a Union of Skills – focusing on investment, adult and lifelong learning, skill retention and the recognition of different types of training to enable people to work across our Union. Central to this will be embedding lifelong learning into education and careers and supporting the training and the career prospects of teachers. We will focus on improving basic skills and propose a STEM Education Strategic Plan. This will aim to address the worrying decline in performance and the lack of qualified teachers in areas linked to science, technology, engineering and maths. It should also bring more girls and women into STEM education and careers. It is also important to give vocational education and training (VET) the prominence it deserves. It prepares people for work and gives them the skills that companies are looking for. This is why I will propose a European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training, notably to boost the number of people with a secondary VET degree. - [Commission work programme 2025 + Annex]() — status: not recorded. The 2025 work programme brings together planned legislation and policy strategies covering competitiveness, the Single Market and industrial transition. Its programme includes measures on affordable energy, startups and scaleups, savings and investment, and business simplification. Digital priorities span AI, quantum technology, electronic communications, business wallets and the space sector. The programme also identifies work on defence, preparedness, internal security and hospital cybersecurity. Skills, quality jobs, consumer protection and democratic resilience sit alongside these economic and technological measures. Each listed initiative carries an indicative timetable, and the programme distinguishes legislative proposals from non-legislative plans. Source document doc-005, action item 60021: > Union of Skills (non-legislative, Q1 2025) - [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 180045: > Union of Skills [Q1 2025] - [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 220037: > Union of Skills Q1 2025 - [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 330027: > develop a blueprint for an academic career development framework that rewards research commercialisation activities, including transitioning from university to industry and back, such as in the academic staff evaluation and promotion criteria, as part of the Competence framework of academic staff announced in the Union of Skills. - [Apply AI Strategy]() — status: delivered. Source document doc-051, action item 430029: > encourage the involvement of industry in AI upskilling and reskilling, including via the Pact for Skills74, and provide access to additional training opportunities to workers in sectors undergoing restructuring or at risk of displacement, including due to AI, via the Skills Guarantee, announced in the Union of Skills - [EU Defence Industry Transformation Roadmap]() — status: not recorded. Source document doc-062, action item 510013: > In the framework of the Union of Skills, set up a Skills Guarantee pilot, that will help workers at risk of unemployment or in professional transition from the automotive sector and its related supply chains move into jobs in strategic and growing sectors such as defence [as of Q4 2025]. - [The 2026 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report]() — status: not recorded. Source document doc-087, action item 610004: > The Commission is putting forward measures to close the innovation gap. The 28th regime (EU Inc.) will provide a single set of rules for companies to set up, operate and grow throughout the EU, creating fertile ground for start-ups, scale-ups and European unicorns. The European Innovation Act will expedite the market journey for innovations across sectors, while the multi-billion Scaleup Europe Fund will partner with private investors to aid company growth. The European Research Area Act will seek to remove barriers to knowledge sharing and promote the 5th freedom. The Digital Networks Act will reduce fragmentation in the Single Market. The Cybersecurity Act, the Quantum Act and the Cloud and AI Development Act will strengthen the sovereignty and security of European technologies and infrastructures. The implementation of the Union of Skills aims to build skills for quality jobs. ## 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) - [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 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 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. - [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. - [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. --- [Reading guide and interpretation notes]() · [Methodology]()