Brussels, 06/09/2010
Joël Decaillon, ETUC Deputy General Secretary, stated that: ‘Globalisation is totally reshuffling all the cards. Competition will be played out in the area of qualifications and human skills. We have to stop believing that China is just the workshop of the Western world. The point is that there are as many students in Chinese universities today as in all the universities in Europe and North America put together. The crucial issue will be the future development of qualifications, human skills and training if we are to be able to respond to longer working careers, but also the transition to a low-carbon economy. If we want sustainable development not to lead to shrinking growth, it is absolutely essential for us to be investing in new industrial policies. To do that, we need a European strategy, because the emerging powers, as they are still known, are continuing to move and to invest in the sectors of the future. The European Union thus needs to make an unprecedented effort in terms of research, development and training’.
Accordingly, the Commission proposal needs to be discussed and fine-tuned:
- A diagnosis on the failure of the Lisbon Strategy needs to be established. Why was the objective of ‘full employment and quality jobs’ that formed part of the Lisbon Strategy abandoned? We cannot move the debate forwards without having answered this question.
- The challenge relates to the development of qualifications. The European Union has a role to play in that area, provided that it pools the resources, both technical and financial.
- The approach to qualifications is too limiting, especially when there is a close link between levels of skill, validation of skills, qualifications and the labour market. We need a fresh approach, efforts need to be made to address the match between all these data. Given that the question of qualifications is transverse, all the parameters, including the geographical ones, must be factored in.
Joël Decaillon added: ‘The link with wages is not tackled anywhere. You cannot make training and qualifications into a separate subject. Qualifications will not be able to evolve without an adjustment of wage conditions’.