The theme “PES preparedness for structural changes” was guiding the Heads of European PES through the 12th Board Meeting in Helsinki.
Continuous Learning and Artificial Intelligence are two answers to technological changes – and key for PES to keep pace with trends.
Inspiring external experience e.g. from a new coding school in Helsinki enriched the discussion. One key question, addressed by a successful entrepreneur, was how AI can be used for identifying skills and skills shortages.
On a “Market Place” Austria, Germany, Finland and Ireland presented measures on how their PES responded to structural changes, such as the economic crises, mass redundancies or Brexit.
PES also demonstrated their individual experiences in implementing policy driven reforms. Primarily, the Swedish PES shared their current experience, whereas the Netherlands could contribute with lessons learnt from their past reform.
The Commission’s Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion participated in the Board Meeting and informed on policy developments and ambitions of the new Commission. He emphasized the importance of PES as the “boots on the ground” contributing both to the implementation of EU employment policies and to sharing their experience in the process of policy development.
Last but not least, the PES Network elected its new first Vice Chair: Ligita Valalytė from the Lithuanian PES for the first year to come and Spiros Protopsaltis from the Greece PES for the second year, 2021.
We can say, the gathering of the PES Network family and inspiring exchange brought light and warmth to the rather cold and dark Finnish flair.
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