Today we are happy to welcome to Sedefop, three members of the European Parliament,

who are also members of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs to which SEDEFOP reports.

They are Dennis Radke from Germany,

Lucas Furlas from Cyprus,

and Stelios Kimburopol from our host country, Greece.

Thank you all for joining us.

Let me start with Mr. Furlas.

As earlier this year, you were the European Parliament's rapporteur

for Commission's proposal for a European Year of Skills.

Now that the year is in full swing, what do you think its impact is on policy making?

And do you feel social partners are on board for the skills revolution that so many believe is necessary?

Thank you very much for the invitation.

I will start with the latter part of your question.

We fought very hard during the drafting of the report

to include all social partners in this effort.

We felt that it was really important to have on board the employers, the trade

unions and all the social partners. The expertise they would be able to give us was very important.

Without their help, I believe that the European Year of Skills cannot work, and nor can

what we had in mind to help people and workers get to the next stage

of the transition and face the big challenges we have ahead of us.

You asked if the European Year of Skills can have an impact on policymaking.

It should have, and policy makers should learn from the European Year of Skills can have an impact on policymaking. It should have, and policy makers should learn from the European Year of Skills.

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