🇪🇺🇱🇹At the Seimas, a strategic discussion on the choices ahead for Europe. With Speaker Juozas Olekas and committee chairs, we discussed Lithuania’s upcoming EU Council Presidency. Investing in PEOPLE, skills and social resilience must remain at the heart of Europe’s competitiveness.

🇪🇺🇱🇹 With Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius, we discussed Lithuania’s upcoming EU Council Presidency, the social dimension of the future EU budget and how we prepare our labour markets for the impact of AI. PEOPLE must remain at the heart of Europe’s ambitions.

🇪🇺🇱🇹 Europe’s security and competitiveness start at its borders. A good exchange with Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda on the future EU budget, support for eastern border regions, and the need to invest in skills and education in the age of AI.

A signature today. A real difference in people’s lives tomorrow. 🇪🇺🇱🇹 €884M will support Lithuania’s Social Climate Plan by 2032. Its success will be measured in warmer homes, lower energy bills and cleaner, more affordable transport. A green transition that works for people.

This is also why I pushed to strengthen the human capital dimension in the European Semester and why we are advancing the Skills Guarantee: to give people real opportunities to reskill and adapt throughout their careers. The more we invest in technology, the more we must invest in people.

Education and skills are essential for Europe’s competitiveness. This is a priority I share with Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. As AI reshapes labour markets across the world, we need to invest in people as fast as we invest in technology.

In Boston I met with MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles. We discussed how universities can prepare the next generation for a world increasingly shaped by AI and how stronger EU–US academic cooperation can create more opportunities for students, academics and researchers.

Jobs, skills and human capital at the centre of my exchange with Paschal Donohoe from the World Bank Group. Preparing young people for the future starts in the classroom with strong basic skills, digital skills and AI literacy that help them navigate a rapidly changing labour market.

🧑‍⚕️THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS’ QUALIFICATIONS Talent from outside the EU should not be kept for a year waiting for their diplomas is recognised in the EU. We propose common minimum rules for qualification recognition the EU on timelines, right to appeal, adaptation measures.

👷‍♂️PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS A company should not wait months to hire an engineer. We create one single interface available in all EU official languages which each citizen can use to apply for recognition of qualifications.

🧑🏼‍🏭SKILLS PORTABILITY ACT A worker should not spend time and money proving a qualification when moving for work. We want qualifications to become digital, easier to share and real time verifiable. Your skills should travel with you.

Here’s what changes: 🤳ESPASS A worker should not have to carry paper documents across borders to prove he is covered by social security. With ESPASS, that proof goes digital: all social security documents will move to a mobile phone app, stored, standardised and real time verifiable.

🇪🇺 Working in another European country should not mean starting from zero. With the Fair Labour Mobility Package, we want to make sure that wherever you work in Europe, your social rights are protected, your qualifications are recognised and your business is supported.

🇪🇺🇳🇱 Good meeting today with Thierry Aartsen, Dutch Minister of Work and Participation. We discussed occupation health and safety, NRPP, upcoming Fair Labour Mobility Package and Quality Jobs Act. Working together for a fair and mobile labour market across the EU.

We also share many of the same challenges in Europe and beyond: teacher shortages and working conditions, strengthening basic skills, and adapting education to the age of AI. These will also be at the heart of the Education Package I will present in November.

Education remains a priority for the European Commission and for me, personally. I had a good exchange today with Laura Frigenti, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education, on how we can continue strengthening education systems worldwide.