No C 102/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 4. 91 
2.2. The Committee acknowledges the fact that the 
proposed Directive will curb discrimination when pri­
ority is being allocated to claims (Article 10); it does 
however think that this objective can only be fully 
achieved if all Member States agree to apply the same 
order of priority. (For instance, by placing claims in the 
same order of importance as their own tax settlement 
claims.) 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. Article 1 (*) 
3.1.1. Paragraph e) has been added, thus broadening 
the scope of the Directive to include excise duties on the 
(J) Ref. Article 3 of Directive 76/308/EEC. 
Done at Brussels, 27 February 1991. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The current proposal follows on from the 
Council Decision concerning an action programme for 
the vocational training of young people and their prep­
aration for adult and working life of 1 December 1987 
(PETRA), and from the young workers' exchange pro­
gramme which, having been extended, expired on 
31 December 1991. 
(*) OJ No C 322, 21. 12. 1990, p. 21. following products: manufactured tobaccos, alcoholic 
beverages and alcohol contained in other products, 
mineral oils. 
3.1.2. Article 1(3) 
This amends Article 10 of Directive 76/308/EEC to 
stipulate that claims to be recovered are given 'the same 
preferential treatment as similar claims arising in the 
Member State where the requested authority is situ­
ated'. 
In this connection, the Committee would draw the 
Commission's attention to the comments set out in 
point 2.2 above. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois STAEDELIN 
1.2. The purpose of combining and continuing the 
two programmes is to support the Member States' 
efforts to promote initial vocational training, with a 
view to offering two or more years' vocational training 
to any young person in the Community who desires it. 
1.3. This consolidation and extension of the PETRA 
programme in the Commission's response to the 
Council's request that measures be adopted to adapt 
and reinforce the existing programmes. A total of ECU 
177,4 million are to be earmarked for this purpose for 
the period 1992-1994. Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 87/569/EEC concerning 
an action programme for the vocational training of young people and their preparation for 
adult and working life (PETRA) (*) 
(91/C 102/02) 
On 23 November 1990, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 128 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Social, Family, Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was responsible for 
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 14 February 1991. 
The Rapporteur was Mr Nierhaus. 
At its 284th plenary session (meeting of 27 February 1991), the Economic and Social Commit­
tee unanimously adopted the following Opinion. 
18. 4. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 102/3 
2. General comments 
2.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission pro­
posal. The Committee has based its assessment of the 
proposed measures first on the present state of initial 
vocational training in the Community and secondly on 
objectives which, in the light of the convergence of the 
national economies in the run-up to the single market, 
are urgent. 
2.2. Initial vocational training in the Member States 
presents an extraordinarily diverse picture. There are 
disparities in: 
— the proportion of young people of a given age group 
participating in vocational training, 
— the average duration of vocational training, 
— the qualitative standards of the specialist skills to 
be acquired, 
— the scope and force of legal provisions, 
— responsibility for organizing and financing 
vocational training, and location, 
— the nature and closeness of contacts with industry, 
— the degree of recognition of the qualifications 
obtained and the associated rights. 
2.3. Although diverse forms and systems of training 
should continue to exist in qualitative competition with 
each other, there is a general consensus in the Com­
munity that more has to be done to ensure that high 
quality initial training is made available to as many 
young people as possible in all Member States and 
regions. This is made essential by the constantly grow­
ing importance of vocational qualifications for the indi­
vidual and for the competitiveness of Community 
industry on the world market. 
2.4. The advance of new technologies, information 
and communications technologies in particular, and 
associated changes in the demand for skills, mean that 
an increasingly large proportion of well trained skilled 
workers will be needed, and that young people and 
workers without skills run the risk of economic and 
social marginalization. 
2.5. Any contribution by the Community to the pro­
vision of more and better initial training is therefore 
supported by the Committee. The Committee welcomes 
the current action programme, as it did the first PETRA 
programme. 
2.6. A coherent Community vocational training pol­
icy still remains to be developed. It should however 
continue to be borne in mind that the Community can 
do no more than provide support and back-up for the expansion and qualitative improvement of initial 
vocational training. It is the Member States and their 
governments, in collaboration with participating organ­
izations, state-run bodies and social partners, which 
must do the spade work. The current programme can 
be regarded as a fragment in the mosaic of Community 
activities aimed at achieving the objectives of training 
policy; the contribution it can make to a general raising 
of the quality and scale of initial vocational training 
in the Member States should not be overestimated. 
Through its programmes and activities the Community 
can merely give an impetus which then has to be 
reinforced and multiplied by the support and activities 
of the Member States. 
2.7. Although progress has been made over the last 
few years, the Committee renews its appeal to the 
Member States, their entrepreneurs and trade unions 
to do everything in their power to achieve an increase 
and qualitative improvement of the vocational training 
opportunities available to young people. 
2.8. The Committee welcomes in particular the 
initiatives in the current programme aimed at increasing 
the European dimension of vocational training. In this 
way the right conditions must be created for ensuring 
freedom of movement for workers (Article 48 of the 
EEC Treaty). Apart from the elimination of regional 
disparities, this will require comparable training objec­
tives and qualifications. The European Centre for the 
Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) 
should redouble its efforts to develop a coherent system 
for comparability of job descriptions and vocational 
qualifications. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. Comparability of training objectives and qualifi­
cations would greatly assist the realization of the Com­
mission's call for greater use of placements abroad as 
part of training courses. Priority support should be 
given to exchange schemes between training establish­
ments with different structures but similar training 
objectives, as these promise the best results in edu­
cational terms. 
3.2. Placements abroad must occur late enough in a 
training course for the trainee to have amassed suf­
ficient technical skills to be able to benefit from the 
placement, but not so late as to interfere with the final 
examination. Preparation and follow-up are equally 
important. 
3.3. The Committee wholeheartedly supports the 
objective whereby the Member States would provide 
all young people who so wish with two or more years' 
No C 102/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 18. 4. 91 
vocational training leading to a recognized qualification 
(Article 1). The reports which the Member States are 
required to draw up [Article 4(2)] should set out in 
detail the extent to which this objective has been achiev­
ed, or, as appropriate, the obstacles and difficulties 
standing in the way of its achievement. This could be 
used as a basis for measures as part of future Com­
munity vocational training policy. 
3.4. With regard to realization of freedom of move­
ment, the inclusion of vocational information and 
advice centres in the programmes is particularly wel­
comed. In this the European dimension makes itself 
clearly felt. It is expected that national labour authori­
ties or other competent bodies will support this initiat­
ive by providing the staff and technical facilities to 
enable their advisory services to exploit the opportunit­
ies of the programme to the full. The vocational training 
specialists of employers' and workers' organizations 
must also be more closely involved in the programme. 
3.5. In order to boost the necessary effectiveness of 
careers advisory bodies, the programme should offer 
careers advisers the opportunity to broaden their 
experience through visits to other countries. The pro­
grammes should, for example, enable careers advisers 
to gather first-hand experience of training systems and 
methods in other Community countries and exchanges 
of personnel should be arranged. The technical and 
organizational foundations should also be laid for an 
international information service covering vacant places 
on training courses. This will require increased use 
of computer-assisted information and advice systems, 
which have unfortunately been given low priority in 
the current draft programme. 
3.6. If the programme is to be a success comprehen­
sive information must be widely disseminated to all 
potential participants. The planned coordination bodies 
in the Member States must be enabled and required to 
obtain such information and to give interested parties 
effective help with preparation and implementation. 
3.7. A large number of young people in the Com­
munity are trained in small and medium-sized firms. 
Implementing the programme can be expected to pose 
Done at Brussels, 27 February 1991. particular problems for these firms, in the following 
areas: 
— difficulties in obtaining information, and 
— financial and organizational problems, particularly 
for very small firms, in releasing apprentices and 
young workers for placements abroad. 
3.8. The Committee calls on the Member States to 
ensure that the group of participating young people is 
a balanced one; i.e. girls and young women should be 
included, and there should be greater participation by 
workers from small and medium-sized firms. More 
opportunity should also be given to the children of 
migrant workers. 
3.9. Language barriers remain a serious problem. 
The support to be made available for language tuition 
preparatory to placement abroad is therefore to be 
welcomed. Nonetheless a basic knowledge of foreign 
languages remains one of the main criteria determining 
an individual's chance of participating in one of the 
Community's exchange programmes. Efforts to pro­
mote teaching in Community languages in the Member 
States must be generally stepped up if Europe is to 
become a tangible reality for its citizens. 
3.10. Exchange programmes between highly 
developed and disadvantaged regions should be given 
special support in order to foster a better mutual under­
standing of the advantages and problems of the training 
system of the other partner, so that the practical experi­
ence gained can be directly and fruitfully applied to the 
further development of training in the participant's own 
country. 
3.11. Of the two representatives of the Member 
States on the advisory committee, one should come 
from vocational training and the other from a careers' 
advice background. 
3.12. Finally, steps should be taken to ensure that 
once exchange programmes have been completed, par­
ticipants can resume their initial vocational training or 
former employment in their home countries. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois STAEDELIN