The shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers is pushing recruitment towards several non-EU destinations, including the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, which are among the closest. This is the focus of the European Commission’s Migration Partnership Facility, launched in June 2026, which includes the Skilled Driver Mobility for Europe II (Sdm4eu II) pilot project. The scheme is developing two legal migration corridors for lorry drivers: from Morocco to Italy and from Egypt to Romania. The programme will run for 30 months, until December 2028, and has a budget of almost €6 million, 95% of which is financed by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (Amif).
The programme aims to train 600 drivers, 300 in Morocco and the same number in Egypt. Of these, one third, or 200 candidates and 100 for each corridor, will move on to the subsequent mobility and placement pathway with European companies, while for the other 400, training will not automatically imply relocation to the European Union. The project includes digital recruitment and selection systems, selection missions led by the employer companies themselves, technical and language training before departure, matching between labour demand and supply, legal mobility procedures, integration support and staff retention initiatives once workers have been placed. The project will also train 30 instructors to provide training in the countries of origin.
Morocco and Egypt are part of the talent partnerships promoted by the EU, which combine labour and training mobility channels with broader cooperation with third countries on migration management, including readmission and return procedures. Several international bodies are taking part in the project, coordinated by Gopa Pace, while the contract is managed by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (Icmpd). IRU is involved as a technical partner on training levels and as a representative of road haulage. Beneficiaries include the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (Aastmt), Soleterre and Icar Foundation.
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