The road transport industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers.
The shortage is particularly acute in the EU, driven by an ageing workforce and the limited number of young people and women entering the profession.
At the same time, many non-EU professional drivers face barriers to accessing formal employment opportunities: the lack of recognition of foreign driving qualifications, fragmented visa and work permit procedures, and the absence of structured mobility pathways.
Skilled Driver Mobility for Europe II (SDM4EU II) – a project building efficient, transparent and mutually beneficial legal mobility pathways for professional drivers, connecting Egypt to Romania and Morocco to Italy – addresses both sides of this challenge.
SDM4EU II will help EU operators access qualified drivers through legal channels, while helping Egypt and Morocco build lasting training capacity and employability aligned with EU and national requirements.
This project is awarded and contracted in the framework of the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF), an EU-funded initiative implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in support of the external dimension of EU migration policy.
SDM4EU II
Building legal driver mobility corridors between North Africa and the EU
The road transport industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers.
The shortage is particularly acute in the EU, driven by an ageing workforce and the limited number of young people and women entering the profession.
At the same time, many non-EU professional drivers face barriers to accessing formal employment opportunities: the lack of recognition of foreign driving qualifications, fragmented visa and work permit procedures, and the absence of structured mobility pathways.
Skilled Driver Mobility for Europe II (SDM4EU II) – a project building efficient, transparent and mutually beneficial legal mobility pathways for professional drivers, connecting Egypt to Romania and Morocco to Italy – addresses both sides of this challenge.
SDM4EU II will help EU operators access qualified drivers through legal channels, while helping Egypt and Morocco build lasting training capacity and employability aligned with EU and national requirements.
This project is awarded and contracted in the framework of the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF), an EU-funded initiative implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in support of the external dimension of EU migration policy.
IRU's role
IRU has a leading technical role, supporting the design of EU-aligned training and certification frameworks, and coordinating engagement with operators in the destination countries.
With its expertise in driver professionalisation and overall industry intelligence, together with its network of institutional and private organisations, IRU helps ensure that drivers arriving from Egypt and Morocco meet EU and national professional and safety standards, and that EU employers have a clear, reliable pathway to recruit them legally.
IRU also contributes to the project's policy-learning platform, capturing lessons learnt for future EU Talent Partnerships corridors. Policy learning, alongside the dissemination and replication of the results, is a central objective of the project, laying the groundwork for the growth of legal driver mobility pathways between the EU and third countries.
Project results
SDM4EU II is expected to establish two operational legal mobility corridors: Egypt to Romania (with the support of IRU member UNTRR) and Morocco to Italy (with the support of IRU member FAI), backed by harmonised training, examination certification, mobility, employment and placement processes. Drivers will be prepared to meet applicable EU and national professional and safety requirements, easing integration and reducing administrative delays for employers.
The project also supports compliance with applicable EU social rules, including the requirement for employers to apply the same working and employment conditions for third-country drivers as for EU drivers.
A mentoring and monitoring system will support drivers after arrival, with a reintegration pathway for those who return home.
Why this project matters to IRU:
GOPA PACE is the project’s lead applicant, under a grant from ICMPD through MPF, working with three co-applicants: AASTMT, Soleterre and the ICAR Foundation, which respectively lead implementation in Egypt, across the Morocco–Italy corridor and in Romania.
The wider partnership includes specialist organisations from across the transport, training and employment sectors, including IRU, UNTRR, FAI, FTL-CGEM, OFPPT, IFTL and HRSE, with EIFFA and ANAPEC contributing as supporting partners.
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