EFCI’S Call for A Common Skills Framework for Europe’s Cleaning Industry

On 26 February 2026, the European Cleaning and Facility Services Industry (EFCI) submitted its contribution to the European Commission’s Skills Portability Initiative In it, EFCI set out a concrete proposal to ensure practical skills portability for Europe’s cleaning and facility services industry to guarantee that competences acquired in one Member State can be recognised and valued across borders.

At the core of the Initiative is the proposal for a European Cleaning Skills Card, designed to: 

• recognise core competencies across Member States; 

• promote fairer competition in procurement; 

• strengthen the professional recognition of cleaning operatives. 

The objective is to raise standards across the industry and ensure that workers’ skills travel with them — making mobility simpler for workers and recognition more predictable for employers, across companies, sectors, and borders. 

EFCI stands ready to work with policymakers and Social Partners to advance this work. We believe that progress will depend on coordinated action across multiple stakeholders —bringing together national associations, training providers, employers, procurement authorities, and Social Partners. Done properly, this creates shared prosperity and shared value: fostering innovation, strengthening workforce development, and reinforcing the competitiveness of the European cleaning industry – and, with it, the collective Single Market as a whole. 

The full contribution is available here.