19 February 2021
SGI Europe published today the two final reports of the Expert Group on Skills and Migration (EGSM) within the LABOUR-INT 2 project, namely “Testing the European Union Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals” (EN – DE – GR) and ‘’ICT Tools for Labour Market Integration of Refugees and Migrants” (EN). The reports will be further discussed during the Dissemination Conference of the LABOUR-INT 2 project on Thursday 4 March 2021 (9:00-13:00, online).
The Expert Group on Skills and Migration is an ad hoc working group coordinated by SGI Europe that gathered for the first time after one year of implementation of the LABOUR-INT 2 project, to identify challenges, policy drivers and working tools to enhance the capacity of project partners to implement concrete actions for skills assessment, informal validation of skills and skills matching for a faster and more effective transition of Third Country Nationals to the labour market.
The research activity and the drafting of the reports within the EGSM was carried out by the International and European Forum on Migration Research (FIERI). The group focused, on concrete working tools to perform recognition of skills and skills matching adapted to the specific needs of local labour markets.
More specifically, the EU Tool has been tested with a specific category of beneficiaries, i.e., asylum seekers and refugees by two LABOUR INT 2 partners, i.e., the Tiroler Soziale Dienste GmbH (TSD) and the Centre of Athens Labour Unions (ERGATIKO KENTRO ATHINAS- EKA). FIERI was in charge of the evaluation of the testing exercises. This report presents the evaluation exercise, its methodology and key results. The specific objective of the exercise and of this report has been to answer the following driving questions: “did the intervention work?” and, more specifically, “did things work as expected to produce the desired change/result? And if not, why?”. The full report and the executive summary are available in English, German and Greek.
The second report highlighted the ICT experiences developed in the field of labour market integration for refugees and third country nationals (TCNs). The array of issues ranges from IT and specialised language training (e.g., Hack your Future, Code Your Future, Powercoders) to skills assessment and skills certification (e.g., EU Skills Profile Tool for TCNs, European Qualification Passport for Refugees, SkillLab, blockchain and open badges technology), but also job coaching and job matching (e.g., Action Emploi Réfugiés, Workeer). The full report and the executive summary are available in English.
The Final Dissemination Conference of the LABOUR-INT 2 project will take place online on Thursday 4 March 2021, from 09:00 to 13:00. You can register here.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On Thursday 4 March, the partner organisations of Labour INT 2 will be holding the final dissemination conference of the project conference. The meeting will be organised online, from 9:00 until 13:00. You can consult the draft agenda here, and register via the following link.
The conference aims at sharing the results of the LABOUR-INT 2 project, through which the ETUC, SGI Europe together with the involvement and support of several national, European and International organisations have been advocating for a multi-stakeholder approach in setting up inclusive integration paths of migrants in the European labour market.
The event will also give participants an overview of the current European migration context and of migrant’s labour market integration, including the presentation of the various national pilot actions that were deployed throughout the implementation of the project. The conference will also provide the opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned since the implementation of the first phase of the LABOUR-INT in 2016 until the current context with the inevitable consequences of the COVID crisis on European labour markets and on the integration of migrants and refugees.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On Tuesday 9 February, SGI Europe submitted its response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the Zero Pollution Action Plan.
In its answer, SGI Europe welcomes the European Commission’s initiative on a Zero Pollution action plan and its objectives to prevent, remedy, monitor and report on pollution. SGI Europe particularly welcomes the aim to tackle the pollution on the water, soil and air scale in a holistic approach to avoid and reduce pollution at the source, taking into account the precautionary and polluter pays principle.
A prerequisite for systematic protection of the environment and water resources is the coherence of European legal acts. In order to strengthen the good status of the environment, especially water and soil, it is essential that measures in other sectors are also geared towards the corresponding environmental protection goals. SGI Europe is therefore highly stressing the planned interlinking of the different EU environmental policy fields. This is the only way to make a sustainable and systematic contribution to improve their quality.
As providers of general interest, we have recalled the importance of all environmental aspects of climate protection within the framework of the EU Green Deal. The decrease in water quality and availability is a problematic consequence of climate change and its dreadful effects and the toxication issue intensify each year. Additionally, the pharmaceutical residues pose a growing challenge to surface water and groundwater quality. Their impact on water and human health is expected to increase with an ageing European population and will be intensified by lower river flows due to climate change.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On Thursday 11 February 2021, the European Commission presented its Winter 2021 Economic Forecast. According to this forecast, the euro area and EU economies are expected to reach pre-crisis output levels earlier than projected in the Autumn 2020 Economic Forecast. Indeed, the Winter 2021 Economic Forecast indicates that the euro area economy is estimated to grow by 3.8% in both 2021 and 2022, and the EU economy to grow by 3.7% in 2021 and 3.9% in 2022. Economic growth is poised to recover in the spring and gain momentum in the summer as vaccination programmes advance and as the containment measures are eased. An improved outlook for the global economy is also expected to support the recovery. Importantly, Next Generation EU, the EU’s recovery instrument at the heart of which is the Recovery and Resilience Facility, could fuel stronger-than-expected growth, as projected funding has not yet been included in the Winter 2021 Economic Forecast.
However, the economic impact of the pandemic is rather uneven across Member States and the speed of recovery is also expected to vary significantly. The crisis could leave deeper marks on the economic and social fabric of the EU, notably through widespread bankruptcies and job losses. This would also have an impact on the financial sector, increase long-term unemployment and worsen inequalities. European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni affirmed that, whilst the social and economic consequences are all too evident, we can still see light at the end of the tunnel: “This forecast is subject to multiple risks, related for instance to new variants of COVID-19 and to the global epidemiological situation. On the other hand, the impact of Next Generation EU should provide a strong boost to the hardest-hit economies over the coming years”.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
This week, the European Commission has published two important communications, pushing forward a renewed trade agenda built on a sustainable model and reinforced multilateralism. In its Opinion “Harnessing globalisation: The EU in a Globalised World”, SGI Europe highlighted the potential of the EU to be a worldwide standard-setter in trade policy, combining its economic weight and a long tradition of values, putting the EU at the heart of a balanced, multilateral, and sustainable rules-based international order. We called for following a strategic and harmonised approach combining trade policy with other relevant policies such as environmental, competition or economic goals, whilst recognising legislative provisions for SGIs and pushing forward ambitious social and environmental criteria.
On Wednesday, the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs have put forward a new strategy to strengthen the EU's contribution to rules-based multilateralism. The Joint Communication lays out the EU's expectations of and ambitions for the future of the multilateral system. The contribution relies on the importance of defining and defending EU priorities and values, modernising the multilateral system by supporting the UN Secretary-General's reform efforts of key institutions such as the World Health Organisation and the World Trade Organisation and promoting a stronger Europe through partnership.
On Thursday, the European Commission has published its updated trade strategy for the coming years. It builds on the EU's openness to contribute to the economic recovery through supporting the green and digital transformations, whilst ensuring that the EU takes a more assertive stance in defending its interests and values, including through new tools.
In this communication, the European Commission is putting sustainability at the heart of the new trade strategy, supporting the fundamental transformation of its economy to a climate-neutral one. The strategy includes a series of headline actions that focus on delivering stronger global trading rules and contributing to the EU's economic recovery.
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