European Year of Skills: highlighting skills across the EU and the Eastern Partnership

On 9 May, Europe Day, the European Commission marked the official start of the European Year of Skills, with a Festival in Brussels connecting various events across Europe.

The European Year of Skills puts skills at the heart of the EU policy debate, with a focus on helping people get the right skills for quality jobs and helping companies find the qualified employees they need. The European Year of Skills Festival on 9 May sought to highlight this commitment to local, national and European stakeholders, but also media in different Member States.

In the Eastern Neighbourhood too, the EU is supporting skills across its Eastern partner countries, contributing to sustainable growth, innovation and competitiveness for the green and digital transitions, through a wide range of projects, programmes and initiatives focused on developing skills across the population.

To mark the European Year of Skills, EU NEIGHBOURS east is running a campaign throughout the month of May to promote EU skills opportunities in the Eastern Partnership region, to provide practical tips for young audiences encouraging them to take part in upskilling and reskilling, and to raise raise awareness of EU’s support to individuals and companies.

To find out more about these opportunities, you can already see our practical explainers on skills opportunities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, focused on opportunities in the areas of Entrepreneurship, IT, Communication, Leadership & democracy, Learning a new profession, Higher education, and Media literacy.In the coming weeks, also look out for success stories developed with media partners, highlighting the experience of beneficiaries of EU skills programmes, the latest edition of the YEAs Magazine dedicated to the topic of skills, as well as Young European Ambassador and influencer reels on EU NEIGHBOURS east social media channels, highlighting EU-linked practical skills that helped them get a project, study abroad or find a job.