With recommendations to the Commission on just transition directive in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

with recommendations to the Commission on just transition directive in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies

(2025/2131(INL))

– having regard to Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposed legal basis,

– having regard to Rules 47 and 55 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to Articles 4, 9, 46, 149, 151, 153, 162, 164, 174 to 178 and 349 TFEU,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 11 December 2019 on the European Green Deal (COM(2019)0640),

– having regard to the Commission communication of 4 March 2021 on the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan (COM(2021)0102),

having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF),– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the Just Transition Fund (JTF),

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/691 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1309/2013,

having regard to Regulation (EU) 2023/955 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 establishing a Social Climate Fund and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060,

– having regard to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC,

having regard to Mario Draghi’s report of September 2024 entitled ‘The future of European competitiveness’ (the ‘Draghi report’),

– having regard to the Quality Jobs Roadmap,

– having regard to the Council Recommendation on fair transition towards climate neutrality from 2022,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A100000/2025),

A. whereas the green and digital transitions are having a profound transformative effect on Europe’s economies, regions and workplaces; whereas ensuring an effective shift to a climate-neutral and digitalised economy and a reduction on energy supply dependencies is essential for Europe’s sustainability, growth and competitiveness; whereas the ultimate success of the twin transition will depend heavily on ensuring that transition is just and inclusive for workers, businesses and impacted regions;

B. whereas managing the shift to a carbon neutral economy should not only support transitions to new jobs in emerging sectors but also maintain and adapt existing jobs and sectors to climate-neutral and clean industries and technologies for people living in impacted territories; whereas it is important that workers and jobseekers feel supported in managing transitions in order to foster understanding and acceptance of the aims of the 2050 strategy;

C. whereas while a number of important Union legislative and non-legislative initiatives aim to or can help address the impacts of the twin transition (in particular, the Just Transition Mechanism, the JTF, the Union of Skills, the Social Climate Fund, the ESF+ and the RRF) gaps remain in the legislative and policy framework when it comes to disruptions at the workplace, workers’ rights, social protection and social dialogue; whereas only action at Union level can ensure real added value and concurrent upward social convergence to make the promise of ‘leaving no-one behind’ a reality;

D. whereas the Draghi report identifies persistent skills shortages as a barrier to innovation, technology adoption and decarbonisation efforts in turn hampering growth and competitiveness; whereas the Draghi report notes that nearly 80 % small and medium-sized businesses have difficulties in finding workers with the right skillset; whereas the Draghi report further stresses the need to ensure that productivity growth and social inclusion go hand-in-hand, with Member States’ welfare systems critical to providing strong public services, social protection, housing, transport and childcare during the transition;

1. Highlights that the successful transition to more sustainable energy sources and industries will play a major role in the long-term competitiveness of Union businesses on the global market; underlines the need to ensure that businesses and workers are well equipped to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the switch to new and innovative solutions; believes that a binding framework to address the challenges and opportunities of a just transition in the workplace is essential to ensure minimum common standards the provide clarity and structure for both workers and employers in anticipating and managing change and ultimately improve the Union’s resilience, competitiveness and upward social convergence; stresses that regions can support the just transition by combining social protection, economic diversification, and territorial coordination to reduce negative impacts and promote more inclusive development;

2. Highlights that the impact of decarbonisation on employment goes beyond reductions in fossil fuels sectors and will have a broader impact in terms of job redefinition and overall labour market transition; stresses the need for the forthcoming update of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and the new Quality Jobs Roadmap to include a set of concrete legislative and non-legislative measures that tangibly improve the working conditions, health and safety, collective bargaining coverage and training and skills of workers’ and the self-employed; stresses that such measures also provide an opportunity to support Union employers, particularly SMEs, to retain and improve their competitiveness by providing a clear framework for anticipating and managing change in partnership with workers and to invest in vocational education and training (VET), up-skilling and re-skilling workers to address skills and labour shortages that impede productivity and growth;

3. Calls on the Commission, following consultation of the social partners, to propose a directive to ensure a just transition in the world of work and facilitate the Union’s transition to a sustainable, climate-neutral, and digital economy; believes that this directive should include measures to ensure, inter alia:

(a) a dedicated framework to anticipate and manage change through the timely information and consultation of workers and their representatives, social dialogue and collective bargaining;

(b) an individual right to cost-free training for workers during working hours;

(c) the establishment of national just transition strategies;

(d) the development of business support programmes and the promotion of enterprise-level transition plans;

(e) a monitoring structure that can deliver strategic foresight;

4. Highlights that the anticipation and management of change is paramount for both employers and workers to successfully navigate the green transition and effectively deal with the economic challenges brought on by adverse geopolitical events; stresses that transition planning can proactively prevent redundancies, build long-lasting resilience in business and make best use of available resources; emphasises that plans must be developed in the framework of social dialogue, with full respect for the right to information and consultation; calls in this regard for a review of the legislative framework on information and consultation to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose in the context of the twin transitions; stresses the need to provide businesses with incentives to establish their own transition plans;

5. Highlights that the shortage of skilled workers can be meaningfully abated only by addressing the availability and accessibility of training opportunities; highlights that training schedule, family responsibilities and costs are the main barriers for workers willing to participate in further training; strongly believes that an individual right to training free-of-cost for workers and during working hours can overcome these barriers for workers and ensure a predictable and stable supply of skilled workers for employers;

6. Stresses the need for Member States to support businesses and workers by laying out overall strategies and policies for a fair transition at a national level; highlights that such national strategies should identify the impact of transitions on individual sectors and workforce and should set out a comprehensive and cross-cutting array of measures to mitigate the impact; underlines the importance of developing long-term vision and strategy for local economic transition by involving public and private actors and civil society; stresses that direct investments in innovation and improving regional attractiveness through upgrading infrastructure, public services and amenities are necessary to retain workers and generate quality jobs;

7. Recalls that SMEs are the main generators of durable local employment; stresses the need to facilitate access for SMEs to transition funding, including by allowing for clustering arrangements for accessing funds and technical assistance to guide project design and compliance; urges Member States and regional authorities to establish and strengthen business support programmes in the affected regions to help start-ups and SMEs grow and succeed; highlights that investment incentives can help attract firms to vulnerable regions;

8. Notes the lack of accurate data on the number of jobs lost, created or impacted by the twin transitions; underlines the importance of forecasting changes in the labour market and trends in skill needs for effective policy responses; calls for the establishment of a fully-fledged EU Fair Transition Observatory to collect relevant data and analyse the impact of transition policies;

9. Calls for the proposed directive to be accompanied by a revamped Just Transition Fund for the post-2027 programming period, ensuring that it operates under shared management and partnership principles with an increased budget; stresses that the new Fund should support employers in providing workers’ right to training as well as the roll out of transition plans at enterprise level; urges for transition funding to include social conditionalities to support inclusion;

10. Calls on the Member States to ensure sufficient funding for quality skills and vocational training programmes as a long-term investment in workers’ and businesses’ productivity, growth and competitiveness; calls on Member States, with the support of the Commission, to strategically leverage existing Union instruments to implement the Union of Skills, particularly the Skills Guarantee; calls on Member States to increase the use of national Emission Trading Scheme revenues for training of workers and labour reallocation; calls on the Commission to explore and issue guidance on how public-private partnerships between Member States and enterprises can fund the training, reskilling and upskilling of workers in particular the right to training for individual workers;

11. Highlights that strong social safety nets and social protection systems are essential to support workers during periods of transition; calls on Member States to modernise and strengthen their social protection systems and services in order to ensure resilience against shocks resulting from the twin transition impacting the labour market;

12. Stresses that the impact on employment will differ across regions and populations; highlights in this regard the need to engage and empower local citizens and stakeholders to be active actors in the transition; stresses that public authorities must engage in strategic consultation and cooperation with social partners during the management of the transition; stresses that meaningful participation can be ensured through early-stage consultations and clear mandates and voting rights for social partners, SMEs civil society and youth in regional coordination bodies;

13. Requests that the Commission submit, by 31 January 2027, on the basis of Articles 153(2), point (b), in conjunction with Article 153 (1), points (a), (b), (e) and (h) TFEU, a proposal for a directive on the just transition in the world of work, following the recommendations set out in the Annex hereto;

14. Considers that the financial implications of the requested proposal should be covered by existing budgetary allocations;

15. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the accompanying recommendations to the Commission and the Council.

ANNEX TO THE MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION: RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL REQUESTED

A European directive for just transition in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies

The European Parliament considers that the future legislative proposal for a directive on just transition in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies should follow these principles and aims:

Recommendation 1: General objective of the proposal

The general objective of the proposal is to establish a Union framework of policy measures that can be put in practice in regions affected by the green and digital transition with the aim of ensuring a socially fair and inclusive transition and the creation of quality jobs.

Recommendation 2: Form of the proposal

The proposal should take the form of a Directive.

Owing to the need for a comprehensive package of measures necessary to achieve this objective, the proposal should include elements in the following fields:

(a) working conditions;

(b) the integration of persons excluded from the labour market;

(c) the information and consultation of workers;

(d) improvements of the working environment to protect workers’ health and safety.

Recommendation 3: Subject matter of the proposal

The proposal should focus on the following policy measures:

(a) establishing a dedicated framework to anticipate and manage change in regions and sectors facing transitions based on the principles of information and consultation, social dialogue and collective bargaining;

(b) ensuring, on the basis of a review of the legislative framework, that the right to information and consultation of workers and their representatives is effectively applied in the context of transitions;

(c) establishing an individual right to training free-of-cost for workers and during working hours;

(d) establishing national just transition strategies, with a particular focus on developing long-term vision for local economies and workforce in all affected regions;

(e) developing support programmes for businesses, in particular SMEs and local actors in order to encourage local job-creation;

(f) ensuring the matching of labour and skills supply and demand through a combined use of labour market intelligence, enhanced collaboration of local actors with training providers, and the promotion of company-level transition plans;

(g) developing a monitoring structure to deliver strategic foresight on transition impacts and labour market developments.

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that she included in her report input on matters pertaining to the subject of the file that she received, in the preparation of the draft report, from the following interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from the following representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies:

1. Interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register

European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)

2. Representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies

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The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that she has submitted to the natural persons concerned the European Parliament's Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.