Launched: May 2025
The challenge
The EURADRIA region, spanning Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia’s Goriška, Obalno-kraška and Notranjsko-kraška regions, is home to over 1.4 million people and a high concentration of small and micro-/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Despite its economic potential, the cross-border area faces complex challenges that limit labour mobility and access to services across the Italy–Slovenia border.
Persistent issues, such as differing national regulations, social security and taxation systems, and recognition of qualifications, continue to create barriers. SMEs, which represent nearly 98% of businesses, often struggle to recruit skilled workers and keep pace with shifting labour market demands. These challenges are especially pronounced in maritime and naval industries, agriculture and seasonal work, construction, hospitality and personal care, and high innovation and digital technologies.
A lack of coordinated cross-border strategies for upskilling and reskilling compounds the problem. As highlighted in the recent Union of Skills communication, there is a clear need to strengthen cooperation between public and private labour market actors, improve skills assessment tools and streamline procedures to boost regional competitiveness.
The ambition
The Regional Skills Partnership for the EURADRIA region aims to build a coherent, human-centred and place-based approach to skills development across the Italy–Slovenia border. It seeks long-term solutions to skills shortages while helping employers and workers benefit more from cross-border opportunities.
The Partnership will support better access to training and information for jobseekers and employers, improve skills recognition and align training offers with real labour market needs. It will also strengthen links between SMEs, training institutions and public employment services to ensure upskilling and reskilling opportunities are effective, accessible and inclusive.
At the core is a more integrated cross-border labour market that promotes lifelong learning, responds to the needs of frontier workers and businesses, and helps vulnerable groups avoid exclusion.
Through targeted data collection, collaborative policy work and active stakeholder involvement, the Partnership will strengthen cross-border cooperation and boost the region’s resilience and competitiveness.
The commitments
The Partnership has committed to a series of actions to improve labour market integration, promote lifelong learning and strengthen stakeholder cooperation.
It will begin by developing a shared approach to cross-border skills intelligence, using structured data collection to identify skills gaps and adapt training programmes accordingly. This evidence-based methodology will directly engage employers to pinpoint skills needs and inform curriculum updates in collaboration with education and training providers.
Employers will also help design and validate new cross-border skills classifications, especially in key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, construction and maritime industries. These common classifications will improve the transparency and recognition of qualifications on both sides of the border.
The Partnership will raise awareness among SMEs of available support services and encourage greater involvement in identifying and planning upskilling and reskilling activities. This includes coordinated engagement with public employment services, trade unions and training providers to ensure alignment.
Finally, the Partnership will improve access to information through digital tools, promote inclusive services, and support policy development at local, regional and EU level to ensure skills policies are coherent, coordinated and future oriented.
The impact
The EURADRIA Regional Skills Partnership will strengthen the labour market by linking employers, jobseekers and institutions through a shared skills agenda. It will create more opportunities for workers, especially those facing employment barriers, and help SMEs become more competitive by improving access to skilled labour.
By identifying skills gaps, aligning training with market needs and improving skills recognition, the Partnership will reduce fragmentation and strengthen cross-border mobility. This work will also foster a culture of lifelong learning and contribute to more inclusive, sustainable growth.
View the document below to learn more about the Regional Skills Partnership for the EURADRIA region.
