Mediaroom

On 1 July, the European Commission released a Communication on a ‘European Skills Agenda for Sustainable Competitiveness, Social Fairness and Resilience’.

In a letter addressed to Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, the four automotive sector associations steering the activities developed under the blueprint DRIVES (ACEA, CECRA, CLEPA and ETRMA) expressed support to the road towards the establishment of a Skills Pact for the automotive sector.

The four associations representing the automotive equipment and tyre suppliers, vehicle manufacturers and dealers and workshop have come together in May 2020 to list 25 Actions that would help the industry towards a smooth and strong recovery, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 Crisis.

Of these actions, two were specifically focused on the skills needs of the industry and particularly to support up- and re-skilling of the labour force, calling for the establishment of a sectoral Skills Pact for the automotive sector.

DRIVES project is fully aligned with the four associations on the need to set-up large-scale partnerships to work on priority areas within the framework of the Green Deal and the sector´s digital transition. In this context, also the DRIVES sector skills alliance, looks at wider innovation in the sector, beyond electrification and batteries, and is the ideal backbone for skills in automotive industry. The setting-up of a large-scale partnership to boost the availability of the workforce of emerging skills needed, is the vehicle to bring DRIVES outcomes forward. Undeniably, DRIVES provides the tools to pool together available trainings in order to have a “go-to” resource for workers and companies looking to up- and re-skill their workforce.