The European Skills Championships, EuroSkills, opened today to great fanfare in the Graz Stadthalle civic centre. And tomorrow morning, 400 competitors from 19 nations and three guest countries will be on the starting lines for the competitions in 48 skills and trades.

22 September 2021: An impressive opening ceremony marked today’s official start of the European Skills Championships, in which 400 young professionals from 22 countries will be going for gold in 48 skills and trades. The spectacular show, with an audience of almost 3,000 in attendance, was staged at the Graz Stadthalle civic centre. The international competitors took to the stage with a flag parade to their own selection of rock and pop tunes – and the 54-strong Austrian team chose the strains of Falco’s legendary “Amadeus” to accompany their grand entrance. and the 54-strong Austrian team chose the strains of Falco’s legendary “Amadeus” to accompany their grand entrance. ‒ It was the same song that the Austrian delegation used when it was handed the official EuroSkills flag at the last European Championships in Budapest in 2018. Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen then addressed the crowd by video message. The stream of welcoming messages then switched to EU commission member Nicolas Schmit from Brussels, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Harald Mahrer, who welcomed the competitors in his opening statement. Dita Traidas, President of WorldSkills Europe, started her address by saying: “Highly trained, skilled workers are the backbone of society and of our economy. The future belongs to Young Professionals all over Europe.”

More pics from the Opening Ceremony can be found on the EuroSkills 2021 Flickr-Account.