Interview: Joost Korte

In March, the European Commission appointed Joost Korte as Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. As part of his new role, Mr Korte is Chairing the ETF’s Governing Board. With a background in law, Mr Korte has occupied an impressive range of high level positions in the European Commission, covering agriculture, external relations, trade and institutional affairs. Live&Learn caught up with Mr Korte to learn more.

Building a fairer and more social Europe is a strategic focus of the Juncker Commission. What does this mean concretely?

European societies and the world of work are undergoing profound transformations. Some trends are likely to accelerate in the next decade, giving rise to new challenges and opportunities. The impact of digitalisation, globalisation, as well as demographic changes will be profound.

Building a fairer and more social Union is a priority for this Commission. This means delivering social rights for citizens. The European Social Model has been a success story, but this is not a given and requires reinforcement for today’s realities. We need to make sure economic and social progress continue to go hand in hand.

The European Pillar of Social Rights (Covered in Live&Learn Issue 41) is designed as a compass for renewed convergence towards better working and living conditions. The 20 principles and rights enshrined in the Pillar seek to ensure workers have the right to fair treatment and equal opportunities regarding access to labour market, working conditions and social protection.

With the 4th industrial revolution underway, skills and education are at the forefront of political agendas around the globe. How can vocational education and training (VET) help to meet future skills demands?

Rapid technological developments, globalisation, and new business models are disrupting traditional forms of work organisation and employer-employee relations in a fundamental way. Demographic ageing and migration also have an impact on skills and diversity.

Education and training systems have been relatively slow in adapting. VET is the education sector closest to the labour market and is expected to respond to current and future skills demands. In order to do so, changes are required in how content is designed, delivered, and organised.

In my view, VET curricula will need to address two objectives: first, to enable employability of graduates and, second, to equip people with the means for lifelong adaptability, meaning, a high-level of basic skills, including digital skills and transversal competences, including a career management competence and transitions.

We may see a future shift from narrow occupation-specific curricula to broader qualifications corresponding to groups of occupations. We will probably experience even more vocational education at higher qualification levels as a response to growing skills requirements.

Vocational education systems will be expected to shorten their reaction time in the face of a rapidly changing environment. This can be done for instance via modularisation or shorter just-in-time vocational programmes, very often targeting up-skilling and re-skilling of the adult population. Last but not least, we need to have solid skills anticipation and data systems in place analysing labour market outcomes for vocational graduates to order to make informed policy decisions.

Often the strength of vocational education systems depends on the involvement and buy-in of employers. This is why the Commission remains engaged in efforts to improve the quality of social dialogue not only within the EU, but also in the countries with which the ETF is engaging.

How will the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights be put into action?

Delivering the European Pillar of Social Rights is fundamentally a joint endeavour. EU institutions, Member States, public authorities, social partners and civil society organisations at all levels have a crucial role to play in line with their competences. More recently, the Social Fairness Package adopted by the Commission proposes concrete new initiatives to further deliver on the European Pillar of Social Rights. It includes a proposal for a European Labour Authority, to make sure that EU rules on cross-border labour mobility and social security coordination are enforced in an equitable, simple and effective way.

You previously held the position of Deputy Director-General for enlargement when Croatia joined the EU. In your experience, what are the elements for a successful accession process?

In the past year, in the EU we have really reaffirmed our commitment to a credible enlargement perspective for the Western Balkans. Now, it is important that the enlargement countries strengthen their efforts towards achieving real progress and carry out the necessary political and socio-economic reforms. It is important to progress with accession negotiations, but also to focus on structural reforms to improve the economic and social situation of the citizens of the region.

Reforming national policies to support well-functioning and adaptable economies should not be seen as an external requirement, but a goal for improving people’s lives. A key element for success is also to make better use of available means of EU support. This includes financial means, but also technical assistance, learning exchanges and participation in available EU structures and programmes.

Serbia and Montenegro could join the EU within a 2025 perspective. How do you see the role of the ETF in supporting this process? What can other candidate countries learn?

The ETF has an extremely important and valuable role in supporting the enlargement process. One of the six flagship initiatives set out in the ‘Credible enlargement perspective for the Western Balkans,’ communication (Covered in this Issue’s Regional Focus) supports socio-economic development, including enhanced support for education, in particular VET and skills.

Here, the ETF has a concrete role, including in establishing the pilot mobility scheme in vocational education and training. Also, in the context of the economic governance process with the enlargement countries, there is a persistent need to address the skills mismatch and align the provision of VET with the labour market.

The ETF’s international conference in November will look at how transitioning countries are addressing the technological revolution from a skills perspective. How can the EU help to ensure these countries realise their potential and don’t get left behind?

Skills can be the lifeline of an economy and society affecting both the perception of a country as well as the lives and opportunities available to its people. A key challenge facing the EU is to support a closer and more effective co-operation between the world of work and that of education and training.

The EU can help transitioning countries by being a vehicle for learning, sharing of information, and co-operation. It can help through projects that support links between education, training and work to create a labour market of people with the right skills, the necessary information, and the right opportunities. In the light of high youth unemployment rates in many transitioning countries, promoting the employability of young people is clearly a key priority.

We are now embarking on projects to explore the digitalisation of qualification diplomas, and offering modern online career management tools like Europass. I hope that the EU can help transitioning countries by sharing and offering inspiration on how the technological revolution can be used to highlight and value skills more than ever.

Interview in the June Issue of Live&Learn here.

Photo: European Commission