Strengthening labour mobility through the Skills Portability Initiative (SPI)
Removing barriers to the free movement of workers and making the EU more attractive to talent
Portability of qualifications and skills can be challenging when moving between EU countries due to a wide variety of document formats, languages, definitions of applied terminology and assessment methods. Qualifications obtained in one country are not always easily understood and/or acknowledged in another. To address this, the European Commission is consulting the wider public and stakeholders on the portability of skills and qualifications within the European Union. The findings will help shape the future Skills Portability Initiative (SPI).
What is the Skills Portability Initiative?
The Skills Portability Initiative (SPI) aims to improve how people’s skills and qualifications are used and accepted across EU Member States and, therefore, support worker mobility, address labour shortages, and boost competitiveness in the EU.
SPI is a comprehensive package of three interrelated actions.
Action 1: a potential legislative proposal to facilitate worker mobility through improved transparency of skills and qualifications, and digitalisation
Action 2: potential measures to facilitate, modernise and expand recognition processes for regulated professions (Directive 2005/36/EC)
Action 3: a potential legislative proposal for common rules to simplify procedures for the recognition of qualifications and skills of third-country nationals
The package is included in the Commission Work Programme for 2026 (planned for adoption in Q3 of 2026) as part of the EU Fair Labour Mobility Package.
How to get involved?
Impact assessments will be conducted to underpin the preparation of the Skills Portability Initiative. As part of the initiative’s impact assessment, the Commission will conduct a series of consultation activities, including a public consultation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and expert workshops with key stakeholders who may be affected by this initiative. These include, inter alia, young people, workers, education and training providers, employers, and public authorities.
The European Commission has launched a public consultation (questionnaire and call for evidence) on the upcoming Skills Portability Initiative aimed at making skills more transparent and enabling skilled workers to move more easily throughout Europe. The Commission has also launched a call for evidence.
Please share your feedback and go to questionnaire by 27 February 2026.
If you are interested in supporting this initiative further, please use the following form to sign up to one of focus groups. These focus groups will discuss Action 1, which is a potential legislative proposal to facilitate worker mobility through improved transparency of skills and qualifications, and digitalisation. The focus groups will take place in Q1 2026. Please consult the focus group sign-up form here: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/SPIFocusGroupInvitation
The SPI and digital credentials
The Skills Portability Initiative (SPI) will further strengthen the portability of qualifications across the EU, in part by leveraging the adoption and use of digital credentials.
We strongly encourage all stakeholders, especially those already familiar with the European Digital Credentials for Learning infrastructure and actively issuing credentials, as they are pioneers in the digitalisation of learning, to share their invaluable insights in the current public consultation.
Contact us
If you have specific SPI-related questions, please write to EMPL-SPI-COORDINATION@ec.europa.eu.
For questions related to the European Learning Model or European Digital Credentials for Learning, contact our support team at EMPL-ELM-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu.
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