On 20 January 2026, the European Parliament Plenary meeting voted on the report regarding the just transition directive in the world of work.
Despite the fact that the EMPL Committee had voted by a large majority back in December to call on the Commission to present a proposal for a directive on the just transition in the world of work, the Plenary meeting has not endorsed the EMPL proposal and has rejected the call for a directive.
Ceemet welcomes this new outcome, which shows a more nuanced understanding of how change in Europe’s labour markets can best be supported. For MET employers, a directive in this area would undermine the autonomy of the social partners, who are the relevant actors when it comes to addressing employment-related challenges. Our member companies are already actively managing the green and digital transitions through investment, skills development and social dialogue. It is a reality that the pace of the transformation naturally varies from one Member State to another depending on their economic structures, hence social dialogue, collective bargaining and industry-driven solutions remain one of the most effective ways of driving structural change.
Furthermore, a directive in this area also runs counter to the principle of better regulation, which is one of the European Commission’s new imperatives. The European Commission should now act accordingly and focus on measures that build on existing frameworks, respect national competencies and support employers and workers in a practical and flexible way as the world of work continues to evolve.
The final text adopted by the European Parliament nevertheless continues to place strong emphasis on the anticipation and management of change, as well as on training and skills development. In particular, it reiterates the importance of early information and consultation, social dialogue and collective bargaining as key tools to accompany restructuring processes and labour market transitions. It also calls for the establishment of an individual right to training for workers during working hours, with the objective of facilitating upskilling and reskilling in the context of the green and digital transitions.
In this regard, Ceemet emphasises once again that anticipation of change is most effective when driven by companies and social partners who have direct knowledge of business realities, sectoral needs and local labour markets. Existing EU and national frameworks already provide tools to support information, consultation and forward-looking workforce planning. Hence, additional EU-level prescriptive measures in this field risk undermining flexibility and the autonomy of social partners, which remain essential to managing change effectively across diverse national and sectoral contexts.
As regards training, Ceemet supports EU initiatives that encourage upskilling and reskilling, increase adult participation in training and improve the relevance of vocational education and training to labour market needs, notably to boost productivity, alleviate skills and labour shortages and support employment. However, legislating on an EU-wide right to training goes beyond EU competences and disregards the fact that education and training systems are a prerogative of the Member States. Training solutions must remain adaptable to local, sectoral and national realities. A one-size-fits-all right to training at the EU level is therefore not an appropriate solution. Instead, the EU should focus on enabling frameworks, incentives and funding instruments that allow Member States and social partners to design effective, demand-driven training policies that support both competitiveness and workers’ employability.