Ceemet has published a new position paper, ‘The right to training, an issue for the national level,’ setting out its views on training and skills in the context of the ongoing debate on the right to training. As Europe accelerates its green and digital transitions, the metal, engineering, and technology-based industries face profound changes in production, jobs and skills needs. Ensuring that workers can adapt is essential, but Ceemet argues that this must be done in a way that is effective, realistic and grounded in national systems.
The paper underlines that training is already a core part of the just transition in practice. MET companies across Europe invest heavily in upskilling and reskilling their workforce, often through collective agreements, sectoral training funds and in-house programmes. These approaches are closely linked to real jobs and technologies and are shaped through social dialogue. We think this proximity to the workplace is what makes training work, far better than creating a new individual right at the EU level.
Against this background, Ceemet warns that introducing an EU-level right to training would risk undermining the principle of subsidiarity. Education and training systems differ widely across Member States and reflect national labour markets, industrial structures and traditions of social dialogue. A one-size-fits-all legal right would not address issues such as skills mismatches, motivation to train or access for small and medium-sized enterprises, and could even reduce flexibility where it is most needed.
Instead, the paper calls for the EU to play a supportive role by strengthening existing national frameworks. This includes promoting STEM education, supporting vocational and lifelong learning, and improving access to EU funding for skills development through simpler and more targeted instruments. Most importantly, Ceemet stresses that a just transition will only succeed if policymakers trust national systems and social partners to design training that is relevant, timely and aligned with both workers’ careers and companies’ needs.