The much awaited moment for EU-level politics has arrived with the calendar of the hearings for the confirmation of the new Commissioners being announced. Between 4 November and 8 November all Commissioners, apart from the Executive Vice-Presidents, will stand in front of the European Parliament Committees responsible for their portfolio. The Executive Vice-Presidents are scheduled for 12 November.
The hearings are framed around a set of written questions which the European Parliament has already circulated with the Commissioners-designate. Besides these, MEPs will be allowed to put forward their own oral questions on the day. The Lifelong Learning Platform and the larger education and training stakeholders will primarily await for the hearings of Glenn Micallef (Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport) on 4 November, of Ekaterina Spasova Gecheva-Zaharieva (Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation) on 5 November and Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu on 12 November. These are those Commissioners most directly connected to the sector, though the portfolios of Michael McGrath (Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law), of Josef Sikela (Commissioner for International Partnerships) and of Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen will also touch upon the sector.
The LLLPlatform has circulated a set of questions for the Commissioners with the European Parliament. Unfortunately, very few of the proposed questions were considered; regretfully, the questions are not particularly exploring the proposed split between education and youth policy on one side or between education and research & innovation on the other side, and what impact this would have on the Directorate-General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports. It is concerning to also notice that the increased linkages between education and employment policies are not welcomed with more scrutiny over the potential danger of putting education solely in the service of the labour market. The questions already assume a defeatist tone with regard to the upcoming negotiations for the Erasmus+ budget while no questions are raised on the glaring absence of the European Solidarity Corps, the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme or the Development Education and Awareness Raising Programme from several Mission Letters. Questions on several specific new initiatives announced in the various Mission Letters or in the Commission Political Guidelines 2024-2029, the two sets of documents outlining the objectives of the European Commission for this mandate, are also surprisingly missing.
Education and training stakeholders look forward to collaborate with the MEPs on their oral questions, ensuring that more clarity is drawn, and expecting clarifications over the new merger of portfolios within the Commission as well as on the exact plans foreseen for the Union of Skills, the follow-up to the European Education Area, the EU Teachers Agenda and the Action Plan on Basic Skills and STEM Education.
The European Parliament’s EMPL Committee, which oversees social affairs and employment policies, suggested that the title of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu changes from People, Skills and Preparedness to ‘quality jobs, social rights, skills and education’: a fitting proposal and a strong statement. In fact, the Commissioner’s title should better reflect the interconnection between education and skills policy, which do not exclude each other, and be actually called ‘quality jobs, social rights and lifelong learning’. It is appropriate to recall that the definition used by EU institutions for lifelong learning is:
Learning in all its forms, whether formal, non-formal or informal, taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective.
In any case, the commitments of all MEPs to improve the workings of the College of Commissioners is a welcomed effort, and civil society looks forward to advancing the common agenda when the new College of Commissioners will be set up.
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