EuropeOn, the European Association of Electrical Contractors, welcomes the European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan as an important step to accelerate electrification and strengthen Europe’s energy independence.
The 46% electrification target can be an important signal to endow stakeholders and electrical contractors with more confidence in Europe’s energy future, provided it’s duly implemented.
The emphasis on expanding the workforce recognises the need to increase the pipeline of qualified electrification professionals by working on attractiveness and focused awareness raising. Electricians and installers will be at the heart of this transformation as the largest employment effects will materialise downstream. Further, while skills portability and labour mobility are nice-to-haves, focusing on the redistribution of an already insufficient workforce
won’t solve EU-wide workforce shortages.
Europe needs more electricians
EuropeOn welcomes the Action Plan’s emphasis on raising awareness to attract a new generation of skilled workers. More specifically, electricians and electrical contractors play a central role in advancing electrification, strengthening energy independence and improving Europe’s resilience, and should be a focal point of the upcoming VET Strategy’s awareness raising efforts announced in this Plan.
As highlighted in our report “The Makers of Tomorrow”, promoting technical education and careers through targeted awareness campaigns is an essential first step towards securing the workforce needed to achieve Europe’s electrification and energy efficiency objectives.
The priority must be expanding the workforce
While the Action Plan rightly prioritises attracting more people to the electrical sector, EuropeOn is concerned about its reference to labour mobility as a potential response to workforce shortages.
According to EURES Report on Labour Shortages and Surpluses 2025, electricians face severe shortages in most European countries. Moreover, electricians already rank among the most mobile professions in Europe, which proves labour mobility cannot solve a continent-wide shortage. The priority must be to expand the workforce, not simply redistribute it. Moving electricians from one Member State to another risks shifting shortages rather than addressing them.
EuropeOn stresses that the focus should be on attracting more people to the sector and strengthening vocational education and training (VET) to ensure the next generation of electricians is fully qualified. Electrical contractors recruit, train and retain apprentices, and should be adequately supported to ensure this new generation of skilled professionals is prepared to electrify Europe.
Clear targets for more predictability
EuropeOn supports the 46% electrification target. Clear targets provide the certainty businesses, training providers and workers need to invest with confidence. Predictability is key for electrical contractors to plan workforce development, training and recruiting the workforce to deliver on Europe’s electrification goals.
In the words of Julie Beaufils, Secretary General of EuropeOn: “Europe’s electrified and sovereign future depends on electricians and installers. The Electrification Action Plan recognises the need to attract a new generation of skilled electrification professionals to reach our ambitions and rightly places awareness-raising as the first action to address the widespread shortages. That effort must take precedence over mobility policies which, in the current labour market context, merely shift workers around Europe rather than expanding the workforce itself”.
Download the press release here.
