On 5 September, the first day of the Thessaloniki International Fair the citys biggest economic and commercial event six newly-elected Members of the European Parliament attended Cedefops annual reception in honour of Greek MEPs at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art: MEPs Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Constantinos Poupakis, Marietta Giannakou, Georgios Papanikolaou (Group of the European Peoples Parties) , Chrysoula Paliadeli (Group of the progressive alliance of Socialists and Democrats) , Michail Tremopoulos (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance).
Pointing out that Thessaloniki, through Cedefop, has become the vocational training capital of Europe, Aviana Bulgarelli, Director of Cedefop, spoke about the importance of Cedefops recent work for Greek and European policy-makers. Our work is crucial to the economy but also to the well-being of our societies, as we point to challenges such as the danger of polarisation of skills and the growing need for key competences.
Addressing the meeting, new MEPs Chrysoula Paliadeli and Marietta Giannakou the latter knows Cedefop well as a former Minister of Education spoke of the increasing importance of lifelong learning and assured Cedefop of the continuing support of the European Parliament. Ms Paliadeli particularly stressed Cedefops work on lifelong learning and how it can help the more vulnerable social groups, to improve their situation.
Mr Constantinos Tsoutsoplidis of the Greek Ministry of Employment, who represents the Greek government on Cedefops Governing Board, underlined the importance of Cedefop to the Greek goverment, and said his Ministry is working actively to promote green skills, making use of Cedefops considerable work on this issue.
Our host citys educational leaders were also well represented at the gathering, including several Directors of vocational schools. Aristotle University Rector Dr Anastasios Manthos and University of Macedonia Rector Dr Elias Kouskouvelis expressed their satisfaction with Cedefops outreach efforts and pledged their continuing commitment to strengthening the links between Cedefop and Thessalonikis institutes of higher learning.