WRITTEN QUESTION E-0738/01

by Roy Perry (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(9 March 2001)

Subject: Mobility of students, teachers and trainers

The 2000 Lisbon European Council called upon the Member States, in line with their constitutional rules, the Council and the Commission to take the necessary steps within their areas of competence to define, by the end of 2000, the means for fostering the mobility of students, teachers and training and research staff both through making the best use of existing Community programmes (Socrates, Leonardo, Youth), by removing obstacles and through greater transparency in the recognition of qualifications and periods of study and training. Was this target achieved?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2001)

The Council and the Commission are working hard to implement the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council, notably by accelerating the procedure for adopting the proposal for a recommendation on mobility(1), which provides that the Commission shall present a report on the implementation of the recommended measures every two years. This report will be drafted with the help of the Ad Hoc Expert Group with a view to allowing the exchange of information and experience on the different aspects of the recommendation and to encouraging the implementation of the recommendations in the Member States.

Following Parliament's second reading, the Education Council is expected to adopt the recommendation definitively on 28 May 2001.

The recommendation proposed by the Commission invites each Member State to take the measures they judge to be appropriate to eliminate barriers to mobility among the target groups. It focuses on measures to promote a European qualifications area, to enable those concerned to report on

qualifications obtained and experience acquired in the host country, notably via the use of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), the Europass-Training document, the European diploma supplement, and more transparent formats for vocational training certificates. The recommendation also envisages the widest possible use of good practices and important tools developed by the Community programmes (Socrates, Leonardo and Youth).

Besides, at the initiative of the French Presidency, on 14 December 2000 the Council of Ministers, with the Commission's support, adopted a Resolution concerning an action plan for mobility, with a view to fleshing out the measures advocated in the recommendation. This action plan contains 42 concrete action lines.

The Nice European Council of December 2000, in ratifying this action plan, calls for an evaluation every two years to measure progress made in implementing the action plan. This evaluation will be prepared together with the report provided for under the recommendation, with the support of the Expert Group.

While recognising that the Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth Community programmes represent appreciable progress and play an essential role, the action plan, in its fourth chapter, proposes measures to make the most of periods of mobility and gain recognition of the experience acquired (development of the system of recognition and equivalence of diplomas and training, recognition of experience gained and gaining more from periods of mobility).

Some of the measures in the recommendation and the action plan, notably those concerning the recognition of qualifications, are already being addressed in specific Commission actions (Europass-Training Decision, Directive on the recognition of diplomas, work of the Transparency Forum).

Finally, mobility is one of the key features of the Commission's Communication New European Labour Markets, Open to All, with Access for All(2), which, while recognising that the Community-level policy coordination instruments already play an important role, stresses that the 2001 Employment Guidelines and the 2000 Broad Economic Policy Guidelines both call on Member States to enhance labour mobility and to facilitate access to labour market training, education and life-long learning.

The Stockholm European Council of March 2001 recognises that the modernisation of labour markets and labour mobility need to be encouraged to allow greater adaptability to change by breaking down existing barriers. The Council invites the Commission to create a high-level task force on skills and mobility to examine the characteristics and barriers within the European labour market. Besides, the Council stresses the importance of adopting the mobility recommendation by June 2001 and the parallel implementation of the action plan on mobility. The feasibility of a European mobility site will be examined before the end of 2001.

With regard to the mobility of researchers, the Lisbon European Council also called on the Commission and the Member States to take the necessary measures to remove obstacles to mobility by 2002. Following a resolution of the Research Council of 15 June 2000(3), a High-Level Expert Group on Improving Mobility of Researchers was set up and began its work in summer 2000. Four types of obstacles were identified (legal and administrative obstacles; social and cultural obstacles; inter-sectoral obstacles; and obstacles relating to the career of a researcher). The group's report was presented in April 2001, as planned(4). It contains a detailed account of the obstacles facing researchers in Europe, concrete proposals for removing these obstacles and a list of examples of good practice.

On the basis of the High-Level Expert Group's conclusions, the Commission will present a communication to the June 2001 Research Council entitled A mobility strategy for the European research area, which identifies a range of measures specifically designed to promote the mobility of researchers in Europe.

Hence both the Council and the Commission have made significant progress in creating the necessary instruments to achieve the objective laid down by the Lisbon European Council of March 2000.

(1) Proposal for a recommendation of the Parliament and of the Council on mobility within the Community for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers - COM(1999) 708 final.

(2) COM(2001) 116 final.

(3) OJ C 205, 19.7.2000.

(4) High-Level Expert Group on Improving Mobility of Researchers, Final Report, 4 April 2001.