EU Fair Labour Mobility Package: the cure for Europe’s electrician shortage is more workers before more mobility

Brussels, 15 September 2026 – The European Commission has just released its Fair Labour Mobility Package, including the Skills Portability Initiative, aimed at facilitating portability of qualifications and skills for workers and employers. As Executive Vice-President for Skills Roxana Mînzătu hinted at during its presentation, electricians are among the professions facing the most severe and widespread shortages in Europe. EuropeOn welcomes the will to address labour shortages in the electrical sector, but with most EU countries short of electricians, mobility alone cannot be the answer.

The focus should be attracting more people first

In the wake of the Electrification Action Plan, climate adaptation, defence budget increases, and the boom of data centres, there are tremendous new job opportunities for electricians. Yet despite this critical role, they are among the 42 occupations currently facing EU-wide labour shortages.

In this context, EuropeOn believes the main focus should be on incentivising more people to join the sector. Moving workers between countries will only displace the problem. Even worse, automatic recognition of qualifications risks undermining education systems and damaging the sector’s image. We look forward to the release of the EU VET Strategy to take measures towards making Vocational Education and Training more attractive.

Digitalisation can help, but national systems should be respected

Digitalisation can make it easier for electrical contracting businesses (usually small companies) to recruit new workers and easily understand their qualifications. However, qualification structures and standards vary widely across Member States. A one-size-fits-all approach risks levelling down qualification standards and creating extra burden for companies seeking to recruit.

Given that most EU countries face a shortage of electrical workers, the mobility of third-country nationals is a topic worth exploring, always considering the experience of electrical contracting businesses.

In the words of Julie Beaufils, Secretary General of EuropeOn: “In a sector where quality and safety are non-negotiable, moving workers across borders is no substitute for training enough of them in the first place. We welcome the Commission’s attention to workforce shortages, but we want to ensure the focus stays where it matters most: attracting new talent to the electrical profession.”

Read the full press release here.