EU member state companies can utilize this database if they cannot find suitable candidates within either their own country or elsewhere across the EU.

Laura Laaster, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, said to ERR on Friday: "Estonia supports the creation of an EU talent pool, to streamline international recruitment, so long as membership is voluntary for member states."

The government confirmed Estonia's position on the creation of the talent pool at its Thursday meeting Laaster went on.

A regulation currently being prepared by the union will establish an EU-wide talent pool IT platform, which aims to facilitate the recruitment of skilled workers and employees from third countries, outside the EU, by employers inside the 27 member states, particularly to address labor shortages in certain professions. Member states, but not individual employers, can join this talent pool.

From Estonia's perspective, it is important that member states can decide, based on their labor market needs, which professions with labor shortages can publish job offers through the talent pool, Laaster stressed.

Estonia also considers it vital that participation in the talent pool does not affect member states' immigration rules, Laaster added.

Prior to starting work, job seekers from third countries must undergo the respective national procedures, although member states have the option, under to the draft regulation, to set up their own expedited migration processes.

Estonia itself will consider joining the proposed talent pool once the conditions of its operation, associated costs, and administrative burden have been clarified, and analysis of which professions in Estonia most need to facilitate the recruitment of foreign workers through the talent pool has been conducted.

The determination of which sectors have labor shortages will rely on Estonian Qualifications Authority (OSKA) forecasts of labor and skill needs, Laaster said.

Under the plan, job seekers from third countries will be able to create their profiles within the talent pool platform environment, and use it to search for job vacancies.

Additionally, a feature is planned for development within the talent pool environment which would indicate whether a job seeker has already received training or further education funded by a member state.

In that case, the job seeker's profile will only be visible to the specific member state that invested in them for one year. If no recruitment happens during that period, the job seeker's profile will become public to employers from all participating countries using the platform.

The platform's creation will rely on solutions from the European job search portal EURES, while job seekers will be registered through the Europass system. The plan is that the list of job areas experiencing labor shortages will be constantly updated.

Estonia also stresses via its government-approved positions a desire to make maximum use of existing solutions such as European Employment Services (EURES), Europass, and the EU's single digital gateway, to minimize costs for both the EU and its member states, and to avoid duplication of tasks.

The initiative furthermore should not interfere with member states' own immigration regulations, including those on entry when seeking work.

The initiative will not create a new EU institution but will instead establish a new unit under the purview of the European Commission. Additionally, a steering group consisting of participating countries within the planned talent reserve is to be formed. Participating member states must appoint a national contact point, who will bear the majority of the workload in matching employers to job seekers.

The requisite IT platform for the EU talent reserve also needs to be created, and is expected to be completed by 2027.

In parallel with this platform's creation 2026-2027, cooperation with participating member states should ensure the interoperability of national databases with the EU talent reserve, it is argued. This means that member states wishing to join must ensure the necessary resources for IT developments.

The European Commission says it anticipates that by 2030, a minimum of 11, and at most 20 member states, will be taking part in the EU talent reserve scheme, with more member states likely to join later. Should negotiations reveal a limited interest, recalculations may be necessary to assess the feasibility of creating a mechanism of that kind at the EU level.

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