Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending for the second time Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90 establishing a European Training Foundation'
Date: 1997-10-29
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: Central and Eastern Europe, EU programme, European Training Foundation, Mediterranean third countries, vocational training

21. 1. 98

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 19/45

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation
(EC) amending for the second time Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90 establishing a European
Training Foundation’ (1)

(98/C 19/13)

On 25 June 1997 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned
proposal.

The Section for External Relations, Trade and Development Policy, which was responsible
for preparing the Committee’s work on this matter, adopted its opinion on 9 October 1997.
The rapporteur was Mrs Cassina.

At its 349th plenary session (meeting of 29 October 1997), the Economic and Social Committee
adopted the following opinion by 111 votes to three, with four abstentions.

1.

Introduction

Council Regulation No 1360/90 set up a Training
1.1.
Foundation for the purpose of promoting the develop-
ment of vocational training systems in the countries of
central and eastern Europe participating in the Phare
programme. The first amendment to this regulation
(No 2063/94) extended the Foundation’s remit to include
countries eligible under the Tacis programme. At the
current time, 25 countries (2) are covered by the Foun-
dation’s activities. The Foundation has its headquarters
in Turin and started work three years ago.

1.2.
The proposed amendment is designed to enlarge
the Foundation’s remit to include the Mediterranean
partner countries, and also to consolidate its work and
make it more efficient. To this end the proposal sets out
the roles and functions of the people and bodies
managing the Foundation and clarifies the specific
responsibilities of those involved. The aim is to ensure
that all parties — starting with the Commission itself
— do their utmost to promote the development of
training strategies, to improve the forecasting capacity
of the Foundation and to increase the consistency
between other aspects of the Euro-Mediterranean part-
nership and cooperation on developing vocational train-
ing systems throughout the region.

1.3.
The ESC has consistently maintained that coop-
eration on vocational training with third countries
is strategically valuable. In the Member States, the
development of differing, but high-quality, training
systems has been, and continues to be, a key factor in
economic growth, in the relationship between people
and work, and in ensuring competitiveness with respect
to quality and a dynamic business environment. In other

(1) OJ C 156, 24. 5. 1997, p. 27.
(2) Under Phare: Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Slovenia and FYROM; Under Tacis: Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldavia,
Uzbekistan, Russian Federation, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenis-
tan, Ukraine and Mongolia.

words, investment in human resources is a key element
in the process of European integration. In the partnership
with the Mediterranean countries, which in the short
term provides for the setting up (by 2010) of a free trade
area of shared wealth, stability and democracy based on
dialogue, it is essential to give particular priority to
cooperation in the sphere of vocational training.

1.4.
The ESC feels certain that this Foundation can
contribute significantly to joint development in the
Euro-Mediterranean region, and welcomes the Com-
mission’s proposal.

2. General comments

2.1.
The task of the Foundation is not specifically
to manage programmes, but rather to support their
implementation, assessing requirements so as to frame
forward-looking and appropriate training schemes and
far-sighted and specific intervention strategies.

2.1.1.
Foundation’s functions, which include:

Article 3 of Regulation 1360/89 sets out the

— defining training needs and priorities in cooperation
with the competent bodies in the eligible countries;

— providing information on current initiatives and
future needs; disseminating information through
publications, meetings and other means;

— taking part in initiatives, including pilot projects, for
the setting up of specialized multinational teams for
specific projects and for identifying operations which
could be cofinanced, and implementing programmes
as requested by the Commission or the Council;

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— identifying the bodies and people with a training
record to design, prepare, implement and/or manage
projects;

— laying down the tendering procedures for projects
funded or cofinanced by the Foundation (task of the
governing board);

— helping the Commission to monitor and evaluate
the overall effectiveness of training assistance.

2.2.
The ESC is particularly interested in the Foun-
dation’s activities and the proposal in question given the
role that it plays in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership,
and because it has been calling on all the EU institutions
for some time to be more coherent, open and committed
to promoting the participation of the Mediterranean
partner countries in Community activities and projects
relating to training.

2.3.
The ministerial Euro-Mediterranean Conference
held in Barcelona (in November 1995) conferred on the
ESC the task of establishing links with its Mediterranean
counterparts and equivalent bodies so as to ‘contribute
to a better understanding of the major issues relevant in
the Euro-Mediterranean partnership’. In this context,
the ESC — in liaison with the economic and social
councils of the Member States, has stepped up its efforts
to establish contacts and cooperate with its partners
in the Mediterranean region, and has addressed the
question of vocational training at various meetings and
in its written contributions, always endeavouring to put
forward practical avenues of research and method-
ologies.

2.3.1.
In its report ‘Migration and the creation of a
free trade area’ prepared for the summit of economic
and social councils in Paris (21 and 22 November 1996),
the ESC emphasized that apposite, high-level vocational
training designed in liaison with the different economic
and social sectors of the Mediterranean partners and
the Member States was the key to achieving comparable
levels of competitiveness and promoting the trade flows
and channelling of investment that seem essential for
creating activity. In particular, the ESC highlighted the
strategy of training instructors and managers, and
capitalizing on the potential human input of workers
from the Mediterranean countries who have, or have
had, experience of migration in the EU countries.

2.3.2.
The ESC has subsequently prepared a paper
for the next summit of economic and social councils (to
be held in Morocco in November 1997) on ‘the role of
the economic and social interest groups in implementing
social measures (particularly vocational training) to
back up economic development’.

2.3.2.1.
This paper emphasizes the vocational train-
ing role which the social partners have always played in
the Member States and considers that this experience

can and must help the social partners in the Mediterrane-
an countries by giving them the resources they need to
take on these responsibilities, and advocates the setting
up of transnational networks that draw on existing
education and training structures.

Specifically, it is proposed to set up a network
2.3.2.2.
that would function as an embryonic labour market
observatory and monitor migration flows, with the
support of the European institutions, in particular the
European Training Foundation which is the subject of
the present opinion.

2.4.
For all these reasons, the ESC is very interested
in, and fully supports, the Commission’s proposal. The
ESC is also prepared henceforward to contribute to the
subsequent activities of the Foundation, and would ask
the Commission not only to forward its annual report,
as provided for in Article 5 (9) of the Regulation, but
also to routinely request the ESC’s opinion on this
report.

Finally, without wishing at this stage to propose
2.5.
priority areas for the Foundation’s work, the ESC
would stress that certain specific issues concerning
the Mediterranean region merit careful attention: in
particular equal opportunities for men and women is a
dimension that should be ‘mainstreamed’, i.e. integrated
into the various programmes.

3. Specific comments

The amendment proposed to Article 2 specifies
3.1.
the framework in which the Foundation is to work,
i.e.
‘following general policy guidelines set by the
Commission’. This amendment concerns both the Foun-
dation itself, which is urged to ensure complete consist-
ency with EU policies towards third countries, and the
Commission, whose various departments are required
to set out an overall framework of coherent guidelines
on the matter. The Committee endorses this proposal.

3.2. With the amendment proposed to Article 4 (1),
the Commission is required to ensure cooperation with
relevant Community bodies,
in particular Cedefop,
which works on EU training strategies. Here again clear
need for more involvement and responsibility on the
part of the Commission. The Committee endorses this
proposal.

3.3.
As regards the composition of the governing
board — Articles 5 (1) and 5 (4) — the proposal to
increase the number of Commission representatives
from two to three, while maintaining the right of the
Commission representatives to one sole vote, must be

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interpreted in the light of the previous amendments.
The idea is not to give the Commission greater weight
on the governing board, which currently comprises one
representative per Member State and two representatives
from the Commission (one of whom chairs the board
and has no vote), but to allow particular bodies to
compare notes to try and achieve maximum effective-
ness. The Committee endorses this proposal.

3.4.
The proposed amendment to Article 5 (7) changes
the deadline for adopting the annual work programme
from 30 November of the year preceding the programme
to the beginning of the year in which it comes into effect,
and introduces the possibility of adapting the programme
during the course of the year. This proposal must be
read in conjunction with Article 10 (1) and (2) (budget
procedure). Here the director is required to present the
budget at the beginning of each financial year and the
governing board to adopt it no later than 15 February.
The amendment links the programme’s content (annual
programme within the framework of a three-year rolling
perspective) to available resources, but allows a certain
flexibility in implementation during the financial year.
The ESC considers this amendment to be appropriate.

The role of the director has been enhanced in the
3.5.
proposed amendment to Article 7 (1), second paragraph,
which gives him or her not just the authority, but
also the responsibility ‘for properly implementing the
governing board’s decisions and the guidelines set down
for the Foundation’s activities’. This grants more explicit
executive powers to the director and requires him or her
to work together with the political authorities of the EU
(Commission and Member States) as appropriate.

In the proposed amendment to the first paragraph of
Article 7, the director’s term of office, previously a
five-year renewable term, is ‘three to five years, which
can be extended on a proposal from the Commission’.
The ESC has its reservations regarding this amendment.
In other comparable foundations the term of office is
five years; the ESC therefore thinks that the first term

Brussels, 29 October 1997.

should be confirmed as five years with the possibility of
extension for up to a further five years.

In the proposed amendment to Article 10 (4), the
3.6.
governing board is required to adopt the budget at the
same time as the work programme. This amendment
not only streamlines the decision-making procedure for
the Foundation’s activities, but most importantly places
decisions about its work (content) on an equal footing
with decisions on its resources. The Committee endorses
this amendment.

In the proposed amendment to Article 6 (1)
3.7.
and (2), the Commission would also be involved in
appointing the members of the advisory forum, whose
task is to advise the governing board, either when
requested or on its own initiative. Though this proposal
seems appropriate, the ESC nevertheless notes that the
advisory forum is very large, effectively comprising two
experts for each Member State and each beneficiary
country, and two for the social partners at EU level.
Although such an advisory body must include represen-
tatives of all parties concerned, it should be able to
maintain and increase the effectiveness of its work. The
ESC would therefore like the advisory forum to operate
increasingly on the basis of specialized groups (thematic
or regional) and advocates making provision for its
opinions to be incorporated in the decision-making
process of the governing board when appropriate.

3.8.
The Commission explicitly states that it does not
anticipate changes in the staff of the Foundation. The
ESC would recommend that, when the tasks assigned
have to be reorganized, care be taken to boost the
competence and motivation of those concerned, notably
by encouraging every effective opportunity for training
so that they can acquire the specific skills they need
to respond fully to the training requirements of the
Mediterranean partner countries. The ESC hopes that
the Commission’s proposals concerning the budget
procedure will take account of such requirements and
that those responsible for the budget will thus consider
whether funding for the Foundation should not be
increased, if only by a small amount.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS