The Final Conference of the PaintingSkillsAcademy project, in which UNIEP was a co-organiser took place on Friday 24/03 in Brussels in the historical premises of the City Hall of Brussels.
The event counted with the presence of Mrs. Vera Leuner from the European Commission (DG EMPL), Mr. Fernando Sigchos from European Builders Confederation, Mrs. Valentina Guerra (SMEunited, Social affairs), Mr. Peter Dohr (Austrian Chamber of Commerce, EU Representation) and other external guests who were attracted by the agenda of the event.
The event counted with the presence at the opening of the ceremony of Mr. Roberto Galluccio from CPEONS, partner of the project and participant in the organisation of the 3-day event.
The videos produced by EPP to promote the project were shown during the discussions moderated by Ms. Petra Ziegler (WIAB), who went through various aspects of the project such as PSA Project: aim and main challenges in a more general way, the opportunities for the Painting sector expressed by Mr. Helmut Schulz (UNIEP President) or the development of mobility (explained in images thanks to the interview with Ann Cook, PDA).
The Year of Skills 2023 was evoked with the very complete intervention of DG EMPL present at this Final Conference, with examples of similar projects at PSA. Ideas for the future were mentioned and there are many. Other speakers like Ms. Valentina Guerra from SMEunited were present to explain the central role of upskilling and reskilling for the competitiveness of SMEs. Mr. Sigchos from the European Builders Confederation spoke about his latest successful project, Construction Blueprint, in which EBC was a partner. To close the interventions, Mr. Dohr gave a picture of how European initiatives can influence the labour market with a concise analysis of market labour in Austria in the painting and decoration sector. This showed the interest of the support of European policies for more upskilling and reskilling to keep this profession alive.
The event closed with a discussion session on the project and with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding which marks the commitment of the partners to bring this project to life.
