SMEunited continues support to European Partnership for Integration

19 December 2022
by smeunited -- last modified 19 December 2022

European social and economic partners together with the European Commission renew their commitment to the European Partnership for Integration.

European Commissioners Ylva Johansson and Nicolas Schmit met European social and economic partners today to renew the European Partnership for Integration. This partnership offers refugees additional opportunities to integrate into the labour market.

SMEunited Secretary General Véronique Willems recognised that the renewal of the Partnership is very timely since the arrival of many persons fleeing the war in Ukraine. 'Despite the current energy crisis, European SMEs still face a lack of skilled staff. Migrants and refugees can fill the skills gaps in certain sectors and professions. Therefore, the EU Talent Pool and Partnerships should put in place the appropriate mechanisms to attract economic migrants with by SMEs required skills levels,' she highlighted.

Ms Willems referred to the importance of fostering entrepreneurship among refugees and migrants. Migrant entrepreneurs represent an important pillar of our economies, and 'SMEunited members will continue implementing strong support measures to guide them in setting up successful businesses', she added.

Finally, she insisted that one of the key pillars of integration is successful multi-stakeholder cooperation at local level. 'We continue to encourage local public authorities to design tailored approaches in the areas such as education and training to provide language courses and places for refugee children, adequate child care, health services, housing and trauma support when needed. All these services are crucial to facilitate the integration process so that our entrepreneurs can focus on their main role: provide on-the-job training and quality jobs for refugees and migrants,' Ms Willems concluded.

SMEunited is the association of Crafts and SMEs in Europe with around 70 member organisations from over 30 European countries. SMEunited represents national cross-sectoral Craft and SME federations, European SME branch organisations and associate members. Combined, we represent more than 12 million enterprises with around 55 million employees across Europe. SMEunited is also a recognised employers' organisation and European Social Partner. SMEunited was formally known as UEAPME.

SMEunited