Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Final Report on the Implementation of the Commission's Action Plan for Skills and Mobility COM(2002) 72 final
Date: 2007-01-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU employment policy, action programme, geographical mobility, job mobility, professional qualifications, report

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 25.1.2007 
COM(2007) 24 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND 
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Final Report on the Implementation of the Commission's 
Action Plan for Skills and Mobility COM(2002) 72 final 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION  

The  purpose  of  this  report  is  to  give  account  of  progress  or  shortcomings  on  the 
implementation  of  the  Action  Plan  for  skills  and  mobility1,  which  was  adopted  by  the 
Commission  in  February  2002  and  endorsed  by  the  Barcelona  European  Council  in  March 
2002. The original objectives against which progress has been measured were threefold: 

Firstly,  to  expand  occupational  mobility  and  skills  development,  by  ensuring  that  education 
and  training  systems  become  more  responsive  to  the  labour  market.  Secondly,  to  facilitate 
geographic  mobility  through  the  removal  of  administrative  and  legal  barriers,  the 
development of language and cross-cultural skills, the promotion of cross-border recognition 
of qualifications, and an EU wide immigration policy. Finally, to promote both occupational 
and  geographic  mobility  through  the  provision  and  dissemination  of  information  about 
existing  opportunities  for  mobility  and  the  related  support  mechanisms  in  the  EU,  mainly 
through  the  setting  up  of  a  One-Stop  mobility  information  site  and  the  improvement  of  the 
EURES2 jobs vacancy system. 

The Action Plan was designed as a contribution to achieving the Lisbon objectives of more 
and better jobs, greater social cohesion and a dynamic knowledge-based society.  

The new Integrated economic and employment guidelines 2005 – 2008 attribute a prominent 
role to labour market mobility by proclaiming it crucial for the success of the Revised Lisbon 
Strategy.  The  Guidelines  for  the  employment  policies  of  the  Member  States  which  were 
endorsed  by  the  Council  in  July  2005  put  an  even  greater  emphasis  on  mobility.  Guideline 
n°20  specifies  that  mobility  is  central  to  allow  more  people  to  find  better  employment  and 
calls  for  the  removal  of  "obstacles  to  mobility  for  workers  across  Europe  within  the 
framework of the treaties." The Commission proposal for a Community Lisbon Programme of 
July  2005  commits  likewise  the  Community  to  the  removal  of  obstacles  to  labour  mobility 
and the opening up of employment opportunities within a pan-European labour market.3 

Regarding  education,  promoting  mobility  through  the  development  of  key  competences  and 
the  designing  of  a  European  Qualifications  Framework  have  been  identified  as  crucial 
dimensions of the Education & Training 2010 programme. 

In addition to the Member States, the European Social Partners have also played an important 
role in the implementation of the Action Plan with the designation of mobility as one of the 
key priorities of their joint multi-annual work programme (2003-2005), adopted in November 
2002.  

In  February  2004  the  Commission  adopted  its  mid-term  report  on  Skills  and  Mobility4. 
Building on its findings, the final report provides an assessment of the 4 year implementation 
period  of  the  Action  Plan,  from  2002  to  2005.  Given  that  a  number  of  actions  have  only 

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COM(2002)72 final 
EURopean Employment Services, eures.europa.eu 
COM(2005)330 final 
COM(2004)66 final 

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recently  been  implemented,  the  overall  impact  of  its  actions  can  only  be  fully  measured, 
however,  in  the  coming  months.  A  detailed  progress  report  together  with  a  statistical  annex 
will be made available on the EURES Job Mobility Portal (eures.europa.eu).  

The  importance  of  mobility  was  also  expected  to  receive  considerable  momentum  in  the 
framework of the 2006 European Year of Workers' Mobility. At the end of the Year, together 
with  a  comprehensive  evaluation  of  the  actions  carried  out  under  its  umbrella,  the 
Commission will address the issue on how to further promote mobility in the context of the 
revised Lisbon strategy and will present concrete follow-up proposals in this area in 2007.  

2. 

PAST AND PRESENT POLICY CONTEXT 

The freedom of movement for workers is a right for all EU/EEA citizens5 and as such one of 
the founding principles recognised by the Treaty. Along with other economies, the countries 
of the European Union are facing increasing pressure to respond adequately to the challenges 
of globalisation. In this context, overall improvements in productivity and rates of innovation 
and a well functioning European labour market are essential to enhance the competitiveness 
of the European economy and improve the living and working conditions of its citizens.  

The  enlarged  European  Union  continues  to  experience  strong  inequalities  between  regions. 
Regions with skill shortages and bottlenecks and low unemployment often exist side by side 
with regions with skill surpluses and high unemployment. Skill shortages in the labour market 
are likely to grow as a result of the demographic changes in the coming years. The size of the 
working age population is expected to gradually decline as the retirement of large numbers of 
baby boomers will only be partially replaced by the accession of new generations of young 
people to the labour market. This largely explains why, after a projected increase by some 20 
million between 2004 and 2017, employment is expected to be reduced by almost 30 million 
by  2050,  i.e.  a  fall  of  nearly  10  million  over  the  entire  period  (2004-20506).  The  need  for 
skilled mobile workers is therefore likely to increase during the coming years. This evolution 
has a direct impact on the ongoing debate on the migration into the EU of workers from other 
parts of the world.  

Against this background, it has also to be highlighted that mobility has, on average, remained 
low in both occupational and geographical terms. With regard to job-to-job mobility, recent 
figures indicate that 38 % of EU workers have been in the same job for over ten years7. And 
the  average  duration  of  employment  in  the  same  job  is  estimated  at  10.6  years  in  Europe 
against 6.7 years in the US.8  

Statistical  data  on  geographic  mobility  are  even  more  difficult  to  provide  due  to  their 
heterogeneity. The 2005 Labour Force Survey estimates at less than 2 % the percentage of EU 
citizens  living  and  working  in  another  Member  State  –  a  proportion  that  has  not  varied 
significantly  over  the  past  30  Years.  These  low  overall  mobility  figures,  which  suggest  the 

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The 2003 Accession treaty allows however for the application of transitional measures, limiting the free 
movement  of  workers  to  and  from  eight  of  the  new  Member  States  for  a  maximum  period  of  seven 
years. For more details: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/free_movement/docs_en.htm 
European  Economy  Special  Report  N°4,  Directorate  General  for  Economic  and  financial  Affairs, 
 http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/european_economy/2005/eesp405en.pdf 
Eurostat, Labour Force Survey, 2005 
CEPS, Centre for European Policy Studies, A New European Agenda for Labour Mobility, April 2004 

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absence of a genuine "mobility culture" for workers in the EU, are one of the reasons which 
led the European Commission to designate 2006 as European Year of Workers' Mobility. 

3. 

TOWARDS  A  EUROPEAN  LABOUR  MARKET  OPEN  AND  ACCESSIBLE  TO  ALL: 
CONTRIBUTION OF THE SKILLS AND MOBILITY ACTION PLAN  

3.1. 

Expanding occupational mobility and skills 

With regard to occupational mobility, one of the main instruments to measure progress was 
the adoption by the Council of a series of benchmarks to be achieved by 2010.  

In relation to the objective of raising education levels and reducing the numbers of those 
leaving  school  without  formal  qualifications,  the  Council  adopted  three  European 
Benchmarks in May 2003. The first provides that, by 2010, an EU average rate of no more 
than  10  %  early  school  leavers  should  be  achieved.  With  an  EU-25  average  falling  from 
16.6% in 2002 to 15.6%9 in 2004, an initial step forward has been noticed. 

The two other benchmarks are designed to improve the situation regarding upper secondary 
education:  at  least  85%  of  20  to  24  year  olds  in  the  EU  should  have  completed  upper 
secondary education by 2010 (the EU-25 average has so far only risen slightly from 76.5% in 
2002  to  76.7%  in  2004);  and  the  percentage  of  15-year  olds  with  reading  illiteracy  should 
have decreased by at least 20% by the end of the decade10.  

In  connection  with  the  priority  of  increasing  young  people's  interest  in  mathematics, 
science and technology the Council adopted in May 2003 a specific benchmark stating that 
the total number of graduates in these fields should increase by at least 15% by 2010 while at 
the same time the level of gender imbalance should decrease. Results on this benchmark are 
positive,  as  evidenced  by  the  substantial  increase  in  the  number  of  graduates.  The 
Commission, for its part, has taken a number of actions in the area, such as the launch of the 
"Researchers in Europe Initiative" in 2005, with the aim of raising public awareness about 
the  role  of  researchers  in  society,  attracting  more  young  people  into  scientific  careers  and 
improving  the  attractiveness  of  the  EU  for  researchers  from  all  over  the  world11."European 
Researchers' Nights" were organised in 2005 and 2006, involving a broad range of awareness-
raising activities. Support for the training of researchers in Europe has also been boosted by a 
significant  increase  in  the  budget  of  the  Marie  Curie  Actions  in  the  6th  Framework 
Programme for Research and Technological Development, i.e. 1,58 billion € for 2000 – 2006, 
an increase of nearly 70 % as compared to the previous framework programme. Researcher 
careers  have  also  been  promoted  by  the  Council's  endorsement  of  the  Commission's 
Recommendation12 on the European Charter for Researchers and a Code of Conduct for 
the  Recruitment  of  Researchers  in  April  2005.  So  far,  over  100  European  research 

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Eurostat, Labour Force Survey, 14.06.2005 
According to the 2004 PISA reading literacy survey, Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, Sweden 
and the UK had less than 15 % of their 15 year olds reported as low-performers, while the proportion 
remained higher than 20 % in Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal (2004 PISA reading literacy 
survey, OJE (2004/C 104/01) 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/researchersineurope 
OJ L75/67 of 22 March 2005 (2005/251/EC) or http/europa.eu.int/eracareers/europeancharter 

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organisations have committed themselves so far to adhere to the principles of the Charter and 
Code.  

The Copenhagen Declaration of November 2002 set out priorities for improved cooperation in 
vocational  education  and  training  (VET),  in  order  to  improve  mutual  trust,  transparency 
and  the  recognition  of  qualifications  and  competences,  as  a  means  to  support  increased 
mobility  and  facilitate  life  long  learning.  These  priorities  are  now  well  anchored  within  the 
Education and Training 2010 work programme.  

As regards the validation of non-formal, informal and formal learning, a set of common 
principles was adopted by the European Council in May 2004, and a European Inventory on 
validation,  providing  a  basis  for  mutual  learning  and  exchange  of  experiences  between 
Member States, was finalised13 in 2004. 

In the area of transparency and transferability of qualifications, the single framework for 
transparency of qualifications and competences - Europass – was launched in February 2005. 
Through  a  European  Internet  portal  and  a  network  of  National  Europass  Centres,  Europass 
makes available to citizens a coordinated portfolio of transparency documents. Offering tools 
that are mostly used by jobseekers, it is closely related to the EURES Job Mobility Portal and 
synergy is being developed between both instruments. 

In  response  to  the  request  of  the  Spring  European  Council  of  March  2005,  a  public 
consultation was held on a proposal for the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), which 
will assist the recognition of educational qualifications and competences in non-regulated 
professions. The instrument is designed as a common reference point for reducing barriers to 
co-operation  and  improving  communication  between  education  and  training  providers  in 
different  systems  and  between  authorities  in  different  countries.  The  transparency  and 
transferability  of  qualifications  has  consequently  been  improved,  making  it  possible  to 
compare  the  different  learning  outcomes  of  individual  citizens,  and  facilitating  thereby 
lifelong  learning  and  occupational  mobility.  It  is  anticipated  that  a  Recommendation  in  this 
area will be adopted by the Council and Parliament in 2007.  

To support the EQF, work on quality assurance is being pursued, for example the Common 
Quality Assurance framework for VET, and a public consultation on ECVET - a system for 
the accumulation and transfer of credit in VET - will be launched on 15 September 2006.  

In the ICT area, the Commission established the European e-Skills Forum14 in March 2003 
to  foster  dialogue  among  all  relevant  stakeholders  on  the  development  of  new  ICT  and  e-
business  skills  (e-skills)  as  well  as  their  qualifications  related  to  the  ICT  sector.  The 
Forum produced a synthesis report in September 2004 entitled “e-Skills in Europe: Towards 
2010  and  Beyond”,  which  identifies  concrete  actions  and  calls  for  the  promotion  of  multi-
stakeholder partnerships for their implementation15. In particular, progress has been made in 
2005  towards  the  development  of  a  European  ICT  skills  Meta-Framework  to  promote 
better  understanding  within  the  European  Union  about  the  nature  and  structure  of  ICT 

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www.ecotec.com/europeaninventory 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ict/policy/ict-skills.htm 
www.eskills2004.org  

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practitioner skills required by employers16. At a more general level, the digital literacy action 
of  the  e-learning  programme  has  specifically  addressed  issues  related  to  the  digital  divide. 
And within the renewed Lisbon Agenda, the i2010 initiative identified Digital Literacy as one 
of the key areas for policy actions in the field of information society.  

Finally, efforts have been pursued to raise participation in lifelong learning and continuing 
training.  The  joint  interim  report  of  the  Council  and  Commission  “Education  and  Training 
2010” of March 2004, while evidencing initial progress, called on the Member States to step 
up  their  efforts  towards  developing  and  implementing  comprehensive  lifelong  learning 
strategies.  This  issue  has  been  given  high  priority  in  the  revised  European  Employment 
Strategy, supported by financial assistance from the European Social Fund. The conclusions 
of the 2004 Spring European Council reiterated the need to have such strategies in place by 
2006. So far, progress has essentially been made through the adoption of a benchmark by the 
Council, stating that the EU average level of participation in lifelong learning schemes should 
rise  to  12.5  %  of  the  adult  working  population  by  2010.  In  2004  the  EU-25  average 
participation  was  measured  at  10,3%  against  7,9%  in  200217.  The  social  partners  adopted  a 
common  framework  of  actions  for  the  lifelong  development  of  competencies  and 
qualifications in March 2002 and report yearly on actions taken. 

3.2. 

Facilitating geographic mobility 

While  a  number  of  practical  problems  still  have  a  considerable  impact  on  the  decision  of 
people  to  engage  in  a  mobility  experience  in  another  country  or  region  (housing  market 
regulations,  language  and  cultural  barriers,  absence  of  support  mechanisms  to  facilitate  the 
return of mobile people to their home country), one of the most visible achievements during 
the  time  span  of  the  Action  Plan  has  been  the  introduction  of  the  European  Health 
Insurance Card. Regulation 631/2004 which aims at facilitating the introduction of the Card 
by  aligning  the  rights  on  benefits  in  kind  of  all  categories  of  insured  persons  and  by 
simplifying the procedures was adopted in March 2004. The Card, which is currently used by 
over 50 million citizens, has been introduced in all countries of the European Economic Area 
at the latest on 1 January 2006.  

The co-ordination of Social Security Schemes has been improved through the simplification 
and  modernisation  of  Regulation  1408/71  by  means  of  the  new  Regulation  883/2004.  The 
latter contains a number of key provisions for the promotion of mobility and the improvement 
of  protection  levels  for  migrant  workers  and  their  families,  such  as:  the  possibility  of 
extending  the  period  during  which  a  jobseeker  can  look  for  work  in  another  Member  State 
from  3  to  6  months;  the  possibility  of  exporting  pre-retirement  benefits;  the  possibility  for 
unemployed  frontier  workers  to  seek  a  job  in  the  Member  State  of  former  employment  by 
keeping  their  entitlement  to  unemployment  benefits  in  the  Member  State  of  residence;  and 
significant improvement in health care protection for family members of a frontier worker by 
granting them not only entitlement to health care in the Member State of residence, but also in 
the Member State where they work. 

The  process  of  improving  the  recognition  of  professional  qualifications  for  regulated 
professions produced likewise significant results with the adoption of Directive 2005/36/CE 

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http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/wsict-skills.asp 
Eurostat, Labour Force Survey, 14.06.2005 

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in September  2005. The new Directive  integrates fifteen Directives into a single framework 
while respecting existing guarantees for migrants. It introduces a number of changes including 
greater facilitation of cross-border provision of services for regulated professions which is an 
essential  element  of  the  Commission’s  Services  Strategy.  It  offers  also  the  opportunity  to 
obtain  more  automatic  recognition  of  qualifications  on  the  basis  of  common  platforms, 
increased flexibility in procedures and better guidance of citizens concerning the recognition 
of their professional qualifications.  

Promoting transnational learning in other Member States is an essential component of the 
"Education  &  Training  2010"  work  programme.  After 
the  2003  set  of  policy 
recommendations on access to mobility, quality in mobility and the opening up of Europe to 
the  wider  world,  the  Commission  prepared  a  second  recommendation  of  the  European 
Parliament and the Council in 2005 on transnational mobility within the EU for education and 
training  purposes.  The  recommendation  invites  the  Member  States  to  adopt  the  European 
Quality Charter for mobility, which lays down a set of principles in the field of mobility for 
education  and  training  purposes  to  be  implemented  by  the  Member  States  on  a  voluntary 
basis. The Charter is intended to become a reference instrument to help increase exchanges, 
develop  the  recognition  of  study  periods  spent  in  other  countries  and  establish  mutual  trust 
between authorities, organisations and all mobility stakeholders concerned. 

Concerning  the  portability  of  supplementary  pensions,  the  Commission  adopted  on  20 
October  2005  a  Directive18  aimed  at  reducing  the  obstacles  to  mobility  within  and  between 
Member  States  caused  by  existing  supplementary  pension  schemes  provisions.  The  obstacles 
referred  in  particular  to  the  conditions  of  acquisition  of  pension  rights,  the  conditions  of 
preservation  of  dormant  pension  rights,  as  well  as  the  transferability  of  acquired  rights.  The 
proposal  complements  the  Community  acquis  in  the  area  of  supplementary  pensions  such  as 
Directive 98/49/EC on the safeguarding of supplementary pension rights of employed and self-
employed  persons  moving  within  the  EU,  and  Directive  2003/41/EC  on  the  activities  and 
supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision. 

In  the  research  area,  a  Directive  on  a  specific  procedure  for  the  admission  of  third-country 
researchers  and  two  Recommendations  concerning  the  facilitation  of  admission  and  the 
issuing  of  short-term  visas  to  third  country  researchers  entering  the  EC  were  adopted  in 
September and October 200519. 

Finally,  in  relation  to  the  priority  of  developing  an  EU-wide  immigration  policy,  the 
Commission  adopted  in  June  2003  a  Communication  on  Immigration,  Integration  and 
Employment, responding to the Tampere European Council request to develop an integration 
policy  for  third  country  nationals,  which  would  also  cover  employment-related  issues. 
Regulation 859/2003, which extends the provisions of Regulation 1408/71 to legally resident 

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Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving the portability of 
supplementary pension rights, COM(2005) 507 final 
Council Directive 2005/71/EC of 12 October 2005 on a specific procedure for admitting third-country 
nationals  for  the  purpose  of  scientific  research;  Recommendation  2005/761/EC  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  28  September  2005  to  facilitate  the  issue  by  the  Member  States  of 
uniform  short-stay  visas  for  researchers  from  third  countries  travelling  within  the  Community  for  the 
purpose of carrying out scientific research; Council Recommendation 2005/762/EC of 12 October 2005 
to  facilitate  the  admission  of  third-country  nationals  to  carry  out  scientific  research  in  the  European 
Community, all published on O.J. 1289 of 3.12.3005.  

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nationals of third countries, entered into force on 1 June 2003. This instrument was followed 
on 29 April 2004 by the adoption of Directive 2004/38 on the right of EU citizens and their 
family members to move and to reside freely within the territory of the Member States. The 
Directive recasts and simplifies the different existing Community instruments on the right of 
entry  and  residence  of  workers,  self-employed  persons,  students,  retired  persons  and  other 
inactive  persons.  According  to  the  Directive,  EU  citizens  will  no  longer  need  to  obtain  a 
residence  card  (a  simple  registration  with  the  competent  authorities  will  suffice  if  the  host 
Member  State  deems  it  necessary).  EU  citizens  will  also  acquire  a  permanent  right  of 
residence  in  the  host  Member  State  after  5  years  of  continuous  residence,  which  will  no 
longer  be  subject  to  conditions.  Overall  progress  on  developing  a  common  policy  towards 
economic  migration  for  work  purposes  was  further  prompted  at  the  end  of  2004,  with  the 
adoption of the Hague programme. In this context, the Commission adopted in January 200520 
a  Green  Paper  on  an  EU  approach  to  manage  economic  migration  and  organised  a  Public 
Hearing in June 2005 to consult stakeholders. As a follow-up and on request of the Council, 
the  Commission  adopted  a  policy  plan  on  legal  migration  in  December  2005,  which  covers 
the issue of economic migration21.  

3.3. 

Improving information and transparency of job opportunities 

In  order  to  ensure  improved  information  and  more  transparency  of  job  opportunities  in 
Europe,  the  Commission  launched  in  September  2003  the  EURES  Job  Mobility 
Information  Portal  with  the  objective  to  provide  Europe-wide  access  to  available  jobs. 
EURES  links  together  the  Public  Employment  Services  of  the  Member  States  with  partners 
such  as  employers  and  trade  union  organisations.  The  launch  of  the  Portal  has  substantially 
improved  and  simplified  the  access  of  workers  and  employers  to  practical  information  on 
questions related to job mobility. With over 500,000 unique visitors per month, EURES has 
become  one  of  the  most  visited  Commission  websites.  By  early  2006,  further  extensions  of 
the Portal enabled all EU citizens to have direct access, through a common IT platform, to all 
job vacancies published by the Public Employment Services, i.e. in the order of 1 million job 
vacancies  at  any  given  time.  The  Portal  is  connected  to  the  PLOTEUS  portal  on  learning 
opportunities to facilitate mobility for learning purposes22.  

EURES has also developed links with other relevant information providers, in particular the 
ERACAREERS,  the  European  Researcher's  Mobility  portal23,  which  aims  at  creating  a 
more favourable environment for career development opportunities for researchers within the 
European Research Area. The Portal offers free direct advertisement of job vacancies in the 
research  area  and  posting  of  CVs.  In  addition  to  the  services  provided  by  the  Portal, 
researchers  and  their  families  have  since  2004  access  to  a  personalised  assistance  service 
operated through ERA-MORE, a network of 200 mobility centres located in 32 countries. 

Another significant development on the information side is the launch, in February 2005, of 
the  Your  Europe  Portal.  The  portal  offers  practical  information  and  opportunities  to 
European citizens wishing to work or study in another EU country, or to European businesses 

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Green  Paper  on  an  EU  Approach  to  Managing  Economic  Migration,  European  Commission, 
11.01.2005, COM(2004) 811 final 
COM(2005)669 final of 12 December 2005. 
http://europa.eu.int/ploteus 
http://europa.eu.int/eracareers/ 

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wanting to move to or open a new branch in another EU Member State. During March 2006, 
the Portal counted 1,286,301 visits and 189,963 unique visitors.  

4. 

CHALLENGES AHEAD 

An  overall  assessment  of  the  Skills  and  Mobility  Action  Plan  reveals  that  a  number  of 
significant developments have, on a whole, been initiated as regards the implementation of its 
25  priority  actions.  This  impression  must  be  balanced,  however,  by  the  fact  that  many 
Europeans remain unaware or unconvinced of the rights, conditions and opportunities for 
occupational and geographical changes.  

Taking  stock  of  the  above-mentioned  developments  and  the  expected  developments  to  take 
place under the 2006 European Year of Workers' mobility, the Commission will prepare new 
initiatives  in  2007.  The  findings  of  the  present  report  point  out  to  a  number  of  areas  for 
potential follow up. 

•  In the area of lifelong learning, efforts need to be stepped up in order to develop coherent 
and  comprehensive  strategies  open  to  all  in  schools,  businesses,  public  authorities  and 
households.  As  required  by  Employment  Guideline  n°23  and  the  Community  Lisbon 
Programme  adopted  in  July  2005,  implementation  should  be  promoted  by  appropriate 
incentives and cost-sharing mechanisms. These measures aim to enhance the adaptability 
and flexibility of the European workforce in order to better respond to the changes of the 
European labour market and to contribute thereby to the creation of more and better jobs24. 

•  On the ICT skills front it is important to invest more strongly in EU core comparative and 
competitive advantages as well as to relate to factual information when debating the issues 
at  stake.  Following  the  recommendations  of  the  European  e-Skills  Forum,  a  series  of 
concrete  actions  have  been  initiated  by  the  Commission  at  the  end  of  2005  to  provide  a 
more accurate picture of the supply and demand of e-skills25, develop foresight scenarios 
(2005-2015)  to  better  anticipate  the  evolution  of  demand,  benchmark  policies  and 
initiatives in support of e-learning for enterprises, and study the possible development of a 
European ICT skills and career portal in co-operation with industry and the social partners.  

•  Intensifying  efforts  to  remove  the  legal,  administrative  and  cultural  obstacles  to 
mobility  is  a  more  global  task  where  efforts  need  to  be  prompted  if  the  overall  goal  of 
creating a European labour market is to be attained. The current initiatives in the areas of 
social security, the portability of pension rights or the transferability of qualifications for 
non regulated professions need to be fully implemented and, where necessary, completed 
in  order  to  create  an  environment  where  geographic  and  occupational  mobility  are 
considered as a normal component of a career. New areas of investigation need also to be 
explored  :  language  skills,  the  need  to  provide  appropriate  training  prior  to  mobility  and 
the difficulty of finding employment for partners or spouses of mobile workers have, for 
example, emerged as some of the major obstacles to occupational and geographic mobility 
in  Europe.  These  objectives  fall  in  line  with  the  new  global  approach  put  forward  in  the 

24 

25 

On  the  future  challenges  for  skills  and  mobility  in  the  context  of  the  Lisbon  Strategy,  see  the 
Commission's  2006  Annual  Progress  Report  (COM(2006)  30  final  of  25  January  2006,  and  more 
particularly Action 3.1. "Investing more in Knowledge and innovation" 
“The Supply and Demand of e-Skills in Europe”, RAND Europe, September 2005 

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Commission's 2006 Annual Progress Report, which calls for a new partnership between the 
Commission  and  the  Member  States  in  order  to  meet  the  global  challenges  of  more  and 
better jobs26.  

•  Finally, economic migration, if properly managed, should be regarded as a key asset for 
the  economic  and  social  development  of  Europe  and  the  competitiveness  of  EU 
enterprises.  In  the  light  of  the  expected  demographic  decline  and  the  projected  fall  in 
employment levels, managed migration represents a crucial additional instrument to meet 
labour market requests and sustain economic growth.  

In line with the Community Lisbon Programme and the new Employment Guidelines (2005-
2008), a more integrated approach to mobility seems therefore necessary in order to fully 
develop mobility not only as an instrument to create employment, but as a means to foster the 
personal development of individuals in a lifelong learning perspective. 

26 

Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Spring  European  Council  "Time  to  move  up  a  gear", 
COM(2006)30 final.  

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