She has the skills. But where is the job? Imagine a young woman in the southern Mediterranean, newly trained in renewable energy. She could help power the green transition, yet cannot find decent work close to home. Must she leave to build a future, or stay and wait for opportunities that may never come? Her dilemma is the real test of the EU’s Pact for the Mediterranean: can investment and cooperation deliver prospects for people?
At the Euromed Summit in Lisbon on 27-28 October, representatives of economic and social councils, employers, trade unions, youth organisations and other civil society groups kept returning to one point: investing in people is not an optional extra in economic cooperation; it is what makes that cooperation worthwhile.
Skills must lead to jobs
The Mediterranean faces a stubborn paradox: businesses need new skills, especially for the green and digital transitions, yet too many young people struggle to enter the labour market. Women encounter additional barriers, while opportunities differ sharply from one community to the next.
Training alone cannot bridge this gap. A course matters only if it brings someone closer to decent employment. Education and vocational training must connect with employers’ needs. Apprenticeships must improve. And the jobs that follow must offer fair conditions and a genuine chance to progress.
As rapporteur for the European Economic and Social Committee’s forthcoming opinion on skills, employability and labour market inclusion under the Mediterranean Pact, I believe the message is clear: investment, skills and quality jobs must go hand in hand. That link must guide implementation.
Summit participants welcomed initiatives inspired by the EU’s Youth Guarantee, which could help young people move from education or unemployment into work or training. These approaches must fit local circumstances, not follow a one-size-fits-all model and should pay particular attention to those currently left behind.
Make every skill count
Qualifications matter. But they do not tell the whole story. Young people also learn through volunteering, community projects, informal learning and practical experience. Those abilities have value, yet too often employers and institutions fail to recognise them.
That is why the MED Skills Tracker deserves attention. This pilot approach to documenting and recognising skills across the Euro-Mediterranean region could make those abilities more visible. Better skills information can help people show what they know, help employers find talent and support fairer mobility.
But mobility must not become a one-way ticket out of the region. Young people need a genuine right to stay: the chance to build fulfilling lives in their own communities, alongside the freedom to study, work and gain experience elsewhere. Skills should circulate to benefit both shores, not deepen shortages in places where talent is already scarce.
Think big. Deliver locally.
Renewable energy, digital connectivity and sustainable trade can open up new economic opportunities. But a project’s scale or infrastructure tells only part of the story. We should ask tougher questions: how many quality jobs will it create locally? What training will it provide? And can smaller businesses take part?
The summit highlighted the need to remove barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises and link economic transformation with social inclusion. It also reminded us that opportunity is rooted in the Mediterranean’s cultural heritage, which can sustain entrepreneurship, responsible tourism and quality employment.
None of this will happen automatically. Public authorities, businesses, education providers and social partners must work together to turn economic potential into local opportunity. Development must reach the people it is meant to serve.
Give civil society a permanent voice
The pact will be judged by what it delivers, not what it promises. Consultation after decisions are taken is not enough. Employers’ organisations, trade unions, economic and social councils, youth representatives and other civil society actors must have a meaningful role in setting priorities, monitoring results and identifying what is not working.
In Lisbon, participants called for civil society involvement in the pact’s governance, including its political steering structures. They also proposed giving the Euromed Summit a permanent place in its structured civil society consultation process. More than three decades of dialogue have built valuable experience. It is time to put that experience to work in implementing the pact.
The Mediterranean does not lack ambition. Now it needs delivery: training that leads to quality jobs, fair opportunities for women and young people, and investment that strengthens local economies and social inclusion. These are the results that matter.
Success is not another project announcement. It is people seeing a future for themselves on either shore of the Mediterranean – with the freedom to seek opportunities elsewhere and the genuine choice to build that future at home.
Thomas Wagnsonner is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee
He is also a vice-president of the EESC’s Euromed Follow-Up Committee and rapporteur for the EESC opinion on skills, employability and labour market inclusion under the Pact for the Mediterranean.
