Madeira Autonomous Region (Região Autónoma Da Madeira)

Madeira Autonomous Region (Região Autónoma Da Madeira)

EU local and regional authorities contributing to the mid-term review of Europe 2020

Assessment of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs

flagship initiative

Over two years after its launch, the Committee of the Regions will take stock of the flagship initiative Agenda for New Skills and Jobs in a conference to be held on 28 February and 1 March 2013 in Dublin. This conference will be the second in a series of CoR events and monitoring initiatives surrounding the mid-term review of Europe 2020 in 2014. More news on this conference can be found on the CoR website[1].

By participating in this survey, you will:

  • ensure that your views are taken into account in the debate held during the conference;
  • contribute to the fourth CoR Monitoring Report on Europe 2020, to be published in October 2013;
  • contribute to CoR consultative activity in this field over the coming months;
  • contribute to the mid-term review of Europe 2020 in 2014.

If you wish to participate in this survey, Please complete this questionnaire in any eu language, using the spaces provided, and return it in text format to:

by 21 January 2013

For more information on this survey and for details on how to join the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, go to:

The questionnaire will soon be available on this website in all languages.

Contributor information[2]

Name of sender: / Maria Fernanda Dias Cardoso
Contact details:
(address, telephone, email) / Address: Rua Câmara Pestana, n. 17-2º
9000-043 Funchal
Tel: (+351) 291212060
Fax: (+351) 291227591
Email:
On behalf of:
(name of local or regional authority) / Autonomous Region of Madeira , Regional Directorate for European Affairs and External Cooperation
Type of organisation / City/Town/Municipality Region
County/Province Association of local and/or regional authorities
Other (please specify)
Country: / Portugal
Member of the EUROPE 2020 Monitoring Platform: / Yes No

Policy challenges and responses at regional and local level

BOX 1 – Agenda for New Skills and Jobs: basic information
The aim of the Europe 2020 flagship initiative Agenda for New Skills and Jobs is "to create conditions for modernising labour markets with a view to raising employment levels and ensuring the sustainability of our social models. This means empowering people through the acquisition of new skills to enable our current and future workforce to adapt to new conditions and potential career shifts, reduce unemployment and raise labour productivity" [3].
This aim is in line with the following Europe 2020 headline targets, to be achieved by 2020:
  1. 75% of the working-age population (20-64 years) to be in work
  2. to reduce the school drop-out rate to below 10%
  3. at least 40% of 30-34 year olds to have completed tertiary education
  4. to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and social exclusion.
The Agenda for New Skills and Jobs contributes to the Europe 2020 objective of inclusive growth, together with the flagship initiative European Platform against poverty and social exclusion.
It also contributes to the other objectives of smart growth (being complementary to the flagship initiative Youth on the Move) and sustainable growth (being complementary to the flagship initiative Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era).
You can find more information on the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, as seen from the local and regional authorities' viewpoint, in the Committee of the Regions' publication Delivering on the Europe 2020 Strategy. Handbook for Local and Regional Authorities[4]. General information on Europe 2020 can be found on the strategy's official website[5] and DG Employment's website[6].
1) What are the main challenges currently facing your region/city in terms of (i) functioning of the labour markets, (ii) skills of the workforce, and (iii) quality of jobs and working conditions?
In view of the current economic and social situation, the main challenges facing the region in this field concern the low skills level of our population, re-skilling of the workforce, the high drop-out rate from education, and the exponential rise in unemployment and youth unemployment (the latter currently stands at over 30%). Serious economic constraints also make it difficult to create new jobs.
2) To help meet these objectives, your country has set its own targets, which you can find at To what extent are the targets set by your country appropriate to your local situation? Please explain.
The targets set are not appropriate for the situation in our region, which is facing serious financial constraints that severely limit the convergence process towards the Europe 2020 objectives.
3) Please briefly describe what kind of policy programmes/actions are being implemented in your city/region to tackle the challenges addressed by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs.
The measures being implemented are as follows: increase in the paths for attaining dual educational/vocational qualifications for young people; increase in vocational courses that include work-experience, in order to boost integration into the labour market; stronger training provision for adults as regards social and behavioural skills, and modular courses for educational/vocational certification; improvement of adult education and training; strengthening procedures for the recognition, validation and certification of non-formal and informal skills; advanced training for teachers and public servants.
In terms of European programmes, the region has participated in the EURES network, Eurodyssey, Grundtvig, Erasmus, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, Youth in Action, Lifelong Learning Programme, Circulus, and overseas work-experience schemes.

How is the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs relevant to your city or region?

BOX 2 - Agenda for New Skills and Jobs: main lines of action and initiatives

The specific objectives of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs are:
  • more efficient labour markets, mainly through flexicurity, to be ensured by changing the legal framework at the national and regional levels
  • a more skilled workforce, through skills upgrading and matching of skills and jobs
  • better job quality and working conditions
  • stronger policies to promote job creation and demand for labour.
Specific initiatives and tools at EU level include:
  • the European Social Fund (ESF), to support skills upgrading, the matching of skills and jobs, better quality of work and working conditions (supporting measures reconciling work and private life, non-discrimination and equal opportunities) and job creation (support for self-employment and entrepreneurship)
  • the "European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals", to integrate the latter into the labour market
  • The Lifelong Learning Programme (covering school education, higher education and adult education)
  • The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), supporting education infrastructure, etc.

4) Which of the aims and specific objectives of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (listed in box 1 and box 2) are most relevant in view of the challenges currently facing your region/city?
The school drop-out rate (Box 1) and workforce skills (Box 2).
5) Which of the lines of action shown in Box 2 are most relevant to you, in the sense that they have encouraged you to set more ambitious policy goals at regional/local level? Please explain your answers.
Boosting the skills of the workforce so that they meet the practical needs of the labour market, given the low skills level of Madeira's workforce; and encouraging exchanges through the Lifelong Learning Programme, in view of the European mobility strategy which offers a means of boosting young people's qualifications and employability.
6) Overall, what are the strong and weak points of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, as seen from your regional/local standpoint?
All of the measures are important, but implementing them is difficult in the current economic recession.
7) Would you recommend any specific changes to the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs flagship initiative, following Europe 2020's mid-term review in 2014?
No.

Are your country's policies relevant to your city or region?

8) Does your country's 2012 (current) National Reform Programme[7] (NRP) for Europe 2020 adequately respond to your regional/local needs in the areas covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (see box 1)?
The National Reform Programme (NRP) does not take account of the region's specific situation, and was drawn up without consulting the regional authorities.
We believe that there needs to be a true partnership between the different tiers of government, for example by means of internal networks and communication platforms which include these tiers, in order to ensure that the NRP reflects the varying situations/needs of the regions.
9) Did you have an opportunity to contribute to the drafting of your NRP in the policy field covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs or your National Job Plan, even if only indirectly by way of the organisations representing cities and regions in your country? If yes, please state briefly how.
No.
10) Would you suggest any changes in your country's NRP for 2013 with respect to the areas covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (see box 1)? If yes, please state briefly which changes.
We consider that the national/Europe 2020 strategy objectives need to be tailored to the situation we face in Madeira, as they are currently over-ambitious for our situation.

Managing and funding issues

11) How are your actions regarding the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (stated under question 3) funded? In particular: what is the role of the EU Structural Funds in funding actions related to the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs? If the Structural Funds were involved in funding these actions, have they been coordinated with other policy instruments available in your country?
In Madeira, the main financial instrument for these measures has been the European Social Fund, although there has also been some funding from the Lifelong Learning Programme.
Some measures receive support from the regional budget, but there has not been any coordination with national policy instruments.
12) Have any of the goals you pursued to raise employment levels through the acquisition of new skills been jeopardised due to fiscal consolidation policies and subsequent financial difficulties?
Yes.
13) With respect to the actions you have undertaken to implement the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (as stated in your answer to question 3), are any of them being carried out in partnership by different tiers of government? If yes, please state (a) which administrative levels were involved and (b) which practical arrangements they took to manage those actions jointly.
No.
14) How should employment issues be addressed in the forthcoming Partnership Agreement to be signed between your national government and the European Commission for the management of the Structural Funds under a Common Strategic Framework 2014-2020?
The Partnership Agreement should take account of the fact that outermost regions such as Madeira have some of the highest unemployment levels in the EU, especially among young people. This difficult economic and social context, combined with the specific features of the local labour market (such as its small size, the low skills level of the workforce, a business-fabric made up of small firms, and its great distance from EU markets), means that funding has to reflect this situation.
15) Please add any further comments you might wish to make on the matters dealt with in this questionnaire.
The Autonomous Region of Madeira considers that the financial effort needed to achieve the ambitious objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy means that the region will require significant EU support in the 2014-2020 financial period.
SHARE YOUR GOOD PRACTICE
With a view to the CoR conference to be held on 28 February and 1 March 2013 and the exhibition of good practices in the fields covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, you might wish to submit an example of good practice.
To do so, please complete the form available on our website:

/ JOIN THE EUROPE 2020 MONITORING PLATFORM
To help convey the voice of EU cities and regions in the implementation of Europe 2020 at EU level and in your country, join us. For details on how, see:

THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

[1]

[2]Privacy Statement: The follow-up to your contribution requires that your personal data (name, contact details, etc.) be processed in a file. All the answers to the questions are voluntary. Your replies will be kept for a period of 5 years after the receipt of your questionnaire. Should you require any further information or wish to exercise your rights under Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 (e.g. to access, rectify or delete your data), please contact the data controller at . If necessary, you may also contact the CoR Data Protection Officer (). You have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time ( Please note that the questionnaire with your contribution and your contact details will be published online. Your questionnaire may be transmitted to CoR rapporteurs and other EU institutions for information. Should you not agree to this, please inform us accordingly.

[3] EUROPE 2020. A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, COM(2010) 2020 final, Brussels, 3.3.2010

[4] The Handbook can be downloaded from

[5]

[6]

[7] All available here:

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