Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Proposal for a Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on mobility within the Community for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers"

(2000/C 317/17)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on mobility within the Community for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers (COM(1999) 708 final - COD 2000/0021);

having regard to the decision of the Council of 29 February 2000 to consult the Committee of the Regions on the subject, under Articles 149 and 150 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

having regard to the decision of its bureau of 2 June 1999 instructing Commission 7 for Education, Vocational Training, Culture, Youth, Sport and Citizens' Rights to draw up an opinion on the subject;

having regard to the document of the European Commission's Directorate for Education and Culture of November 1999 on Community law applicable in the field of mobility within the Community for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers;

having regard to the European Commission Green Paper on Education-Training-Research: The obstacles to transnational mobility (COM(96) 462 final);

having regard to its opinion of 12 March 1997 on the European Commission Green Paper on Education-Training-Research: The obstacles to transnational mobility(1);

having regard to its opinion of 19 November 1998 on the Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education - Socrates; the Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the second phase of the Community vocational training action programme - Leonardo da Vinci; and the Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing the Community action programme - Youth(2);

having regard to its opinion of 12 June 1997 on the European voluntary service for young people - action programme(3);

having regard to the report from the European Commission of 18 January 2000 - Survey into the socio-economic background of Erasmus students (COM(2000) 4 final);

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 20/2000 rev. 2) adopted by Commission 7 on 5 May 2000 (rapporteur: Mr Marc Bellet F-PES);

whereas transnational mobility is an essential element in a Europe of employment and knowledge, a Europe open to the world, a Europe of progress and peace. Mobility can help generate an awareness of European citizenship and secure the support of the peoples it comprises;

whereas transnational mobility requires both Community solidarity-based action and effective involvement on the part of local and regional authorities, which are forums for forging social unity and encouraging involvement in local life,

adopted the following opinion at its 34th plenary session of 14 and 15 June 2000 (meeting of 15 June).

The Committee of the Regions

1. fully supports the Commission's new undertaking to actively encourage mobility by eliminating continuing obstacles, which hamper mobility and reduce its scope. The Committee of the Regions intends to meet this challenge;

2. regrets that the aims of the 1996 green paper, which identified the obstacles to be removed, could not be achieved, at a time when the numerous ambitions and plans for a Europe of employment and knowledge feature in urgent declarations addressing the expressed needs and expectations of the populations concerned;

3. considers that, in the present context, the Committee of the Regions should play a leading role in upholding the strength, values and originality of transnational mobility. The Committee of the Regions believes that mobility is an additional instrument in developing Europe's capacity to combat unemployment; social rights should not be neglected in the process, however;

4. welcomes the present recommendation's proposal to work towards closer alignment of standards, without forcing them into a single mould, by urging each Member State to work to the best of its ability within its own framework. This would be part of an approach based on increasingly close cooperation and shared policies, programmes and projects (in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity);

5. underlines the key role which local and regional authorities should play in favour of mobility, boosting local and regional actions and initiatives, in accordance with the partnership and proximity principles, and reflecting these authorities' demonstrated skills in the field of training and education, although these vary from country to country within the EU;

6. welcomes the extension to third country nationals of the same rights as those enjoyed by Community nationals when studying, undergoing training, or working as teachers or trainers within the framework of a Community programme;

7. regrets that researchers are excluded from the provisions of the recommendation, although the Communication: Towards a European research area(4) presents mobility of researchers as an essential tool for progress towards a knowledge-based Europe;

8. supports the proposal that unemployed people taking up training in another Member State should retain the unemployment benefit they received in their Member State of origin, and suggests that the possibility of receiving mobility assistance be extended to persons seeking employment. The deteriorating employment situation makes this requirement all the more important;

9. considers that guaranteed mobility-related rights must be strengthened, by strictly regulating the placement of young volunteers in Community countries other than the country of origin and protecting them in their public interest role in order to prevent any discriminatory policy which might encourage xenophobia or discredit Europe;

10. hopes that mobility will incorporate the new demands of the information revolution, which is transforming society. The Committee of the Regions favours encouraging the development of the principle of interactivity between citizens in order to define a new type of mobility;

11. considers it absolutely essential to assess this new type of mobility by setting up a European mobility observatory, based on existing institutions, representing the categories concerned, in order to:

- ensure that mobility-related data are accessible, transparent and comparable;

- establish a long-term monitoring and updating mechanism for this data platform, in full and necessary compliance with individual, social, cultural and linguistic freedom.

Given the scale of these challenges, the European mobility observatory could ensure that:

- geographic mobility is quantified;

- geographic, social and cultural inequalities in movements between countries and regions are detected, monitored and evaluated;

- special efforts are made to promote the mobility of socially disadvantaged students, providing sufficient funding and an appropriate infrastructure level;

- supply and demand are assessed;

- unequal access to mobility is evened out (democratisation, opening up to vulnerable groups, the disabled, equal access for women and men);

- policies which are dominated by the contradictions of financial profitability are reshaped;

12. notes that citizens are still poorly informed on the potential of each Member State, its regions and local areas and considers it necessary to give more vigorous promotion to the particular features and advantages of those States, regions and local areas which appear unattractive on account of their peripheral geographic situation;

13. considers it necessary to give special encouragement to the mobility of persons native to/resident in remote or most remote areas and/or areas of low population density;

14. hopes that information campaigns - so far focusing principally on students - will target other categories and will be conducted in a transparent and balanced manner as close as possible to the grassroots;

15. advocates simplification of the implementing procedures for mobility programmes, assigning specialist staff to the task and identifying partners for dialogue common to all the categories concerned;

16. highlights the need to set up structures at grassroots level, both locally and regionally, to assist candidates for mobility. As well as providing accurate information and reassurance about their rights to such people, they should also constitute an open forum for sharing and exchanging experience;

17. proposes that mobility for all age groups be promoted, ensuring that it is applicable in different circumstances (families, schools, work, administration, culture and languages), by forging links between existing programmes for each category.

Brussels, 15 June 2000.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos Chabert

(1) OJ C 215, 16.7.1997, p. 1.

(2) OJ C 51, 22.2.1999, p. 77.

(3) OJ C 244, 11.8.1997, p. 47.

(4) COM(2000) 6 final.