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
Date: 2000-01-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU national, free movement of persons, job mobility, residence permit, student mobility

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 21.01.2000
COM(1999) 708 final

2000/0021 (COD)

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

(presented by the Commission)

I.

1.

2.

II.

3.

4.

5.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

INTRODUCTION

Freedom of movement for people is one of the fundamental principles of the
EC Treaty. This freedom of course concerns employees and self-employed workers,
which in principle includes teachers and trainers. But it does not only concern workers.
People who would like to start or continue studies or training, or undertake voluntary
work, not necessarily for professional purposes, should also be able to benefit from this
freedom when they choose to go to another EU country, whether this is in the context
of a Community programme or not.

Freedom of movement includes both the right to enter and reside in a Member State. A
Community national, who exercises this right, benefits from the guarantee of Article 12
of the EC Treaty, which provides for a general obligation of non-discrimination by the
Member States.

CONTEXT

The mobility of students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and
trainers has long been a subject of interest to European citizens. In the context of
completing the internal market and therefore an area without frontiers, mobility for
these categories of people becomes an increasingly important dimension of the
assertion of European citizenship, as well as an instrument of intercultural and social
integration. It was in the second half of the 1980s that Community action in this field
took off, with the adoption of Community programmes such as the Comett programme
for training (1986), the Erasmus education programme (1987) and the Youth for
Europe programme (1988). Since then, other programmes have been added including
European Voluntary Service, and these programmes have enabled thousands of
Europeans to live in another country of the Community in order to fulfil the task they
have set themselves. In addition to mobility in the context of Community programmes,
there is also the ‘spontaneous’ mobility of individual citizens.

The European Parliament has stressed in several Resolutions the importance of working
towards fully achieving freedom of movement for people within the European area. It
has also advocated the abolition of obstacles to mobility so that people, who so wish,
can enjoy such mobility within the Community without any restrictions.

The Council of Ministers has also pronounced itself in favour of achieving an open area
in which obstacles to mobility must be eliminated. Thus, in the field of education, the
Council first affirmed in its Resolution of 24 May 19881 and in its conclusions of 27
November 19922, that
the mobility of students and teachers plays a key role in
developing the European dimension in higher education. Then in its conclusions of
11 June 19933, the Council urged Member States to make a determined effort to
eliminate obstacles to mobility in higher education. The same argument was made for

1

2

3

OJ C 177, 6.7.1988, p. 5.
OJ C 336, 19.12.1992, p. 4.
OJ C 186, 8.7.1993, p. 1.

2

training certificates,

the field of training. Thus the Council Resolution of 3 December 1992 on the
transparency of professional qualifications, and that of 15 July 1996 on the
transparency of vocational
invited the Commission and the
Member States to take steps to improve mutual understanding of the diverse
qualifications systems of Member States and of the qualifications themselves, and thus
facilitate mobility. A “European Forum on the transparency of professional
qualifications” was set up by the Commission and Cedefop to follow up these
Resolutions with concrete proposals. Moreover, the first recital of the Decision of
21 December 19984, with which the Council
introduced the “Europass-Training”
system, the aim of which is to ensure better recognition of training acquired abroad,
stresses
to
training
training policy. Finally, with regard to
the implementation of a vocational
young volunteers,
in their conclusions of
30 November 19945, recognised the growing interest in and development of voluntary
service activities at European level and emphasised the necessity to remove obstacles to
mobility for young volunteers.

the Council and Ministers for Youth,

the mobility

undergoing

persons

critical

that

of

is

6.

7.

8.

The Commission’s Agenda 2000 which gives priority to mobility for the categories
the Communication
of people covered by this Recommendation, as well as
“Towards a Europe of knowledge”, have further stressed this message.

Nevertheless, as the Commission Green Paper of October 1996 “Education, training,
research: the obstacles to transnational mobility”6 and the “Report of the high-level
group on freedom of movement for people” chaired by Mrs Simone Veil, both stress,
the mobility of students, persons undergoing training and young volunteers, and to a
lesser extent, of teachers and trainers, continues to come up against significant
obstacles despite the acquis communautaire. These obstacles must be eliminated.

The Commission Green Paper and the Report of the high-level group propose lines of
action to eliminate the obstacles identified. The debates which followed these two
reports, confirmed the need for Community intervention in order to encourage
Member States to take the necessary steps to progressively remove existing difficulties,
so that Community citizens can be given a set of rights offering a platform for real
mobility. The Amsterdam European Council adopted a Single Market Action Plan with
the aim of improving the implementation of this market. The Plan identified four
strategic objectives, including the implementation of a Single Market for the benefit of
all citizens, and covering measures relating to the right of residence and mobility within
the Union, as well as a mechanism for maintaining a permanent dialogue with citizens.
These considerations demonstrate the need for Community action which must be
accompanied by action in the Member States. This Recommendation therefore
conforms to the principle of subsidiarity which, as defined in the protocol on the
application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality (in particular Article 5),
justifies Community action on issues such as mobility which have a transnational aspect.

4

5

6

OJ L 17, 22.1.1999, p. 45.
OJ C 348, 9.12.1994, p. 2.
COM(96) 462 final.

3

III.

OBJECTIVES

9.

The objectives of the Recommendation are as follows:

– to get Member States to abolish the considerable obstacles which still exist, despite the
in terms of freedom of movement for students, persons

acquis communautaire,
undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers;

– to get Member States to adopt measures so that third country nationals, who are
legally and permanently resident in the Community, benefit from the provisions of the
acquis communautaire relating to freedom of movement and equality of treatment and
from the provisions of the Recommendation; to get Member States to treat third
country nationals in the same way as Community nationals when they are undertaking
studies, a period of training, voluntary work, or providing teaching or training, within
the framework of a Community programme;

– to call on Member States to introduce strategies to incorporate the aspect of
transnational mobility into their national policies which apply to the categories of
people covered by this Recommendation, in order to promote transnational mobility;

– to contribute to the dissemination of good practice, as developed in particular in the
context of the Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and European Voluntary Service
Community programmes.

10.

In order to achieve these objectives, Member States are invited in particular: to ensure
that people who move within the Community are not penalised, either during or after
their stay, by their rights – particularly their social security rights - being diminished; to
recognise experience acquired in the host Member State at its true value; to run
information campaigns to promote mobility by explaining the conditions which this is
subject to.

IV.

FORM AND LEGAL BASIS

11.

A recommendation is the best instrument for working towards the elimination of the
obstacles to mobility which remain in areas as diverse as the recognition of experience,
the right of residence, social security and taxation. It is hardly necessary to repeat that
the different categories of people concerned each have individual situations which mean
that they cannot be treated in the same way. Even within these categories, distinctions
often have to be made between the situations in the Member States in view of the
specificity of each national system. Moreover the obstacles encountered in one Member
State are not necessarily those encountered in another Member State. In this context, a
recommendation is the most appropriate instrument for these objectives, because it
avoids imposing a common mould, and instead attempts to encourage each Member
in conformity with the principle of
State to improve their own systems,

4

subsidiarity mentioned above. A recommendation also fully respects the principle of
leeway than a binding
proportionality because it gives Member States greater
instrument would7.

12.

This Recommendation is based on Articles 149 and 150 of the EC Treaty. These
Articles provide for Community action, in cooperation with the Member Sates, in the
fields of education, training and youth. These measures refer specifically to the need to
promote mobility for the categories of people covered by this Recommendation.

7

In other areas, the Commission has already favoured using a Recommendation, rather than a Directive
for example, based on considerations relating to the principle of proportionality. This was the case with
the Commission Recommendation of 30 March 1998 on the principles applicable to the bodies
responsible for out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes: see the 1998 Commission Report “Better
lawmaking”, COM(1998) 715 final, p. 6, n. 6.

5

2000/0021 (COD)

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

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular
Article 149(4) and Article 150(4) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission1,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee2,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions3,

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

The transnational mobility of people contributes to enriching different national cultures
and enables those concerned to enhance their own cultural and professional knowledge
and European society as a whole to benefit from those effects. Such experience is
proving to be increasingly necessary with the current limited employment prospects and
with an employment market which requires more flexibility and an ability to adapt to
change.

Mobility for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and
trainers – whether in the context of a Community programme or not – is an integral
part of freedom of movement for people. This is one of the fundamental freedoms
protected by the EC Treaty. The right to move and reside freely is moreover recognised
for any citizen of the Union by Article 18 of the EC Treaty4.

(3)

Council Directive 68/360/EEC of 15 October 1968 on the abolition of restrictions on
movement and residence within the Community for workers of Member States and

1

2

3

4

OJ C
OJ C
OJ C
See document “Community law applicable in the field of mobility within the Community for students,
persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers”.

6

families5, as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland

their
and Sweden, recognises the right of residence for workers and their families.

Council Directive 93/96/EEC of 29 October 1993 on the right of residence for
students6 obliges Member States to recognise the right of residence for any student
who is a national of another Member State and who has been accepted on a vocational
training course, and for the student’s spouse and their dependent children who do
not enjoy this right under other provisions of Community law. Furthermore,
Council Directive 90/364/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the right of residence7 recognises
the right of residence more generally, in certain conditions, for European citizens.

Mobility for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and
trainers is also an integral part of the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of
nationality as provided for in Article 12 of the Treaty. That principle applies to the
areas covered by the Treaty, as the Court of Justice has ruled on several occasions. It
training and youth referred to in
therefore applies to the fields of education,
Articles 149 and 150 of the EC Treaty.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social
security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of
their families moving within the Community8, as last amended by Regulation (EC)
No 1399/19999, has in part become applicable to students.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement
for workers within the Community10, as last amended by Regulation (EEC)
No 2434/9211, provides for equality of treatment as regards access to education and
vocational training for workers and their families who have exercised their right to
freedom of movement.

The recognition of professional qualifications for entering and exercising regulated
professions, such as teaching, is governed in the Community by the general system
established by Council Directives 89/48/EEC12 and 92/51/EEC13, as last amended by
Commission Directive 97/38/EC14.

The Council Resolution of 3 December 1992 on the transparency of professional
qualifications15, and the Council Resolution of 15 July 1996 on the transparency of
vocational training certificates16, called on the Commission and the Member States to
take steps to “improve mutual understanding of the diverse qualifications systems of

OJ L 257, 19.10.1968, p. 13.
OJ L 317, 18.12.1993, p. 59.
OJ L 180, 13.7.1990, p. 26.
OJ L 149, 5.7.1971, p. 2; updated version annexed to Regulation (EC) No 118/97, OJ L 28, 30.1.1997,
p. 1.
OJ L 164, 30.6.1999, p. 1.
OJ L 257, 19.10.1968, p. 2.
OJ L 245, 26.8.1992, p. 1.
OJ L 19, 24.1.1989, p. 16.
OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 25.
OJ L 184, 12.7.1997, p. 31.
OJ C 49, 19.2.1993, p. 1.
OJ C 224, 1.8.1996, p. 7.

7

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Member States and of the qualifications themselves”, by making them clearer and more
readable, and therefore more transparent. A European Forum on the transparency of
vocational qualifications has been created to make concrete proposals for implementing
those Resolutions.

(9)

Furthermore, the Member States have invited the Commission to study the feasibility of
introducing, on a voluntary basis, a European administrative annex to the diploma in
order to establish synergies between academic recognition and professional recognition
of qualifications17. The work undertaken along those lines by the Commission together
with the Council of Europe and UNESCO has finished and will soon be followed up
with a public awareness campaign.

(10) Despite the provisions quoted above, the Green Paper “Education, training, research:
the obstacles to transnational mobility”18, adopted by the Commission in October 1996,
noted the existence of obstacles to mobility. The diversity of the status in the Member
States of students, persons undergoing training, teachers and trainers, particularly with
regard to provisions on employment law, social security and taxation, is an obstacle to
mobility. Similarly, not recognising the specific nature of voluntary work is a hindrance
to the mobility of young volunteers.

(11)

(12)

(13)

The Green Paper proposed a series of lines of action to eliminate those obstacles. They
have been largely approved in the context of the debates which have been organised on
this subject in all Member States. It is therefore necessary to remove those obstacles
to mobility.

a Community action,

This Recommendation conforms with the principle of subsidiarity insofar as, as
complemented by action in the
emphasised above,
Member States, is necessary for the obstacles to mobility to be removed. It is important
in this context to emphasise, with regard to the provisions of Article 5 of the Protocol
on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, that mobility
requires Community intervention because by its nature it entails transnational aspects.
This Recommendation also conforms to the principle of proportionality because it does
not impose any constraints on the Member States, but on the contrary allows them
maximum flexibility as to how they achieve those objectives.

This Recommendation is mainly aimed at Community nationals who would like to
experience living in a Member State other than their country of origin. It must also be
noted that the European Council confirmed at its special meeting in Tampere on
15 and 16 October 1999 that
the European Union must ensure equal treatment
for third country nationals who are legally resident in a Member State, and that a
Community policy on integration should aim to offer them rights and obligations
comparable to those of EU citizens. Third country nationals who are legally and
permanently resident in the Community should also benefit from the provisions of the
acquis communautaire relating to freedom of movement and equality of treatment and
from the provisions of this Recommendation. Similarly, third country nationals who
take part in a Community programme such as Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci or the
European Voluntary Service, should benefit from these provisions.

17

18

OJ C 195, 6.7.1996, p. 6.
COM(96) 462 final.

8

(14)

I.

1.

The Community programmes, including those mentioned above, have enabled the
development at Community level of good practice and of important tools which aim to
facilitate mobility for students, persons undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers
and trainers. The widest possible introduction of those good practices and tools should
be envisaged,

RECOMMEND THE MEMBER STATES:

Measures which concern all categories of people covered by this Recommendation

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

to take appropriate measures to encourage the mobility – which should never be
hindered – of people who would like to undertake a course of studies, a period
of training, a voluntary activity, or provide teaching or training in another
Member State, regardless of whether this is in the context of a Community
programme or not; these measures should complement those implemented by
the Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and European Voluntary Service Community
programmes and should draw on the good practice developed in the context of
these programmes; these measures should respond in particular to the financial
problems of mobility by providing for financial assistance for mobility; they
should also promote language learning as a lack of knowledge of languages is a
major obstacle to mobility; these measures should enable Member States to
direct the mobility of those concerned towards activities which are not available
in their own country or towards activities which are innovative and offer good
prospects;

the Member States should fully carry out

to take the necessary measures to enable those concerned to report on
experience acquired in the host country to the relevant authorities, particularly
the academic and professional authorities in their home country; for this
purpose,
the objectives of the
Council Resolution of 3 December 1992 on the transparency of qualifications19;
these objectives are, on the one hand, to enable those concerned to present
potential employers with all their qualifications and experience and, on the other
hand, to enable these employers to assess these qualifications and experience in
terms of the requirements of the job, particularly when they have been acquired
in another Member State;

to take appropriate measures so that persons covered by this Recommendation
can benefit from all the advantages given to nationals of the host country
undertaking the same activity; these advantages include reductions for public
transport, financial assistance with accommodation and meals, access to libraries
and museums, etc;

to take appropriate measures so that people interested in going to another
country can have easy access to any useful information concerning opportunities
for studying, training, volunteering, or providing teaching or training in the
other Member States;

19

OJ C 49, 19.2.1993, p. 1.

9

(e)

to take appropriate measures so that third country nationals who are legally and
permanently resident in the Community can also benefit from the provisions of
the acquis communautaire relating to freedom of movement and equality of
treatment and from the provisions of the Recommendation; to also treat third
country nationals in this way when they are studying, training, doing voluntary
work, or providing teaching or training,
in the context of a Community
programme.

2.

Measures which specifically concern students

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

to ensure the recognition, for academic purposes, in the home Member State of
the period of study undertaken in the host Member State; the use of the ECTS
(European Credit Transfer System) should be encouraged for this purpose
which, based on the transparency of curricula, guarantees the recognition of
academic experience thanks to a contract drawn up in advance between the
student and the home and host establishments; in this context appropriate
measures should be taken so that the decisions of the authorities responsible for
academic recognition are adopted within reasonable timescales, are justified and
can be subject to administrative and/or legal appeal;

to encourage educational establishments to issue a European supplement as an
administrative annex to the diploma, the aim of which is to describe the studies
undertaken in order to facilitate their recognition;

to take appropriate measures so that students who have private insurance,
particularly health insurance, can transfer the advantages of this insurance to the
host country in so far as they are not covered by Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71,
as amended by Regulation (EC) No 307/199920;

to facilitate the integration (academic guidance, educational psychology etc.) of
students into the education system of the host country, as well as their
reintegration back into the education system of the home country, following the
example of the Socrates programme; to this end, the co-ordination of academic
calendars should be considered, in particular by introducing terms or semesters
in the structure of higher education;

to take appropriate measures so that the procedures for transferring and paying
grants and other financial assistance abroad are facilitated and simplified;

to take the necessary measures so that the risk of double taxation on grants and
other financial assistance is eliminated;

20

OJ L 38, 12.2.1999, p. 1.

10

3.

Measures which specifically concern persons undergoing training

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

to this end,

to ensure the validation in the home Member State of the training undertaken in
the host Member State;
the use of the “Europass-Training”
document, amongst others, should be encouraged, which was provided for in
Council Decision 1999/51/EC of 21 December 1998 on the promotion of
European pathways in work-linked training,
the
adoption of more transparent models for vocational training certificates should
also be encouraged, as provided for in the Council Resolution of 15 July 1996
on the transparency of vocational training certificates22; finally, the concrete
proposals presented by the European Forum on the transparency of professional
qualifications should be implemented;

including apprenticeship21;

to take appropriate measures so that persons undergoing training can benefit
from social security cover
in the host country, particularly in terms of
health care;

to ensure that unemployed people who attend training in another Member State
continue to receive the unemployment benefit which they were receiving in their
home country;

to take the period of training spent in another Member State into account when
calculating the waiting period before the trainee receives unemployment benefit,
and not to impose a further waiting period on the trainee as a result of a period
in another Member State;

to treat those people who, although attending training in another Member State,
are not covered by Directive 93/96/EC, at
in accordance with the
provisions of that Directive, with the exception of the requirement to register in
an approved establishment;

least

4.

Measures which specifically concern young volunteers

(a)

(b)

to create a specific framework suited to the situation of young volunteers, when
this does not exist;

to ensure the validation in the home Member State of the voluntary activity
undertaken in the host Member State; to this end, the use of documents such as
the attestation document provided for in Article 8 of Decision No 1686/98/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 July 1998 establishing
for
the Community action
Young People”23, amongst others, should be encouraged;

“European Voluntary Service

programme

(c)

to allow young volunteers to take the health care cover which they benefited
from in the home country to the host country by means of the E111 form;

21

22

23

OJ L 17, 22.1.1999, p. 45.
OJ C 224, 1.8.1996, p. 7.
OJ L 214, 31.7.1998, p. 1.

11

(d)

(e)

to enable the young volunteer, or the parents of the young volunteer,
to
continue to receive family benefits or other benefits throughout the period of the
voluntary activity, despite the fact that the person has gone to another Member
State, providing that their official domicile remains in the country where the
benefits are paid;

to count
the period of voluntary work for the young volunteer who is
unemployed or who has applied for unemployment benefit;
this means in
the period of voluntary work is taken into account when
particular that
calculating the waiting period for benefits, that the young unemployed person
does not have to wait for a further period when they return, and that they are
exempt from having to be available for work during the period of voluntary
work; on the other hand, this does not mean that the unemployment benefit
continues to be paid during the period of voluntary work, but
is
suspended during this period.

that

it

(f)

to avoid the young volunteer and the
as the voluntary work is unpaid,
organisation where they are carrying out
their voluntary work from being
subject to social security or tax deductions; to also avoid the possibility of
double taxation on such activity.

5.

Measures which specifically concern teachers and trainers

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

to take all necessary measures to ensure that a person, who comes under the tax
system of one Member State but is covered by the social security system of
another Member State, is treated as favourably as if they came under only one
Member State for both tax and social security purposes.

to take organisational measures, particularly in terms of academic calendars, to
enable teachers to move to another country, normally on a short-term basis,
without disrupting the academic year in their home establishment;

to introduce European sabbatical periods which would enable teachers and
trainers to move to another country more easily;

to encourage the introduction of a European dimension in the training
programmes of teachers and trainers, on the basis of experience gained in the
context of the Socrates and Leonardo programmes, by converging training
programmes, and organising exchanges and training periods in another Member
State;

(e)

undertake professional
to reward those who
Member State, in particular by means of promotion.

experience

in another

II.

INVITE THE MEMBER STATES:

to produce a report once every two years on the implementation of the different aspects
covered by this Recommendation and to submit this report to the Commission;

12

III.

INVITE THE COMMISSION:

(a)

(b)

to set up a group of experts which represent all Member States and include
people who know the different client groups covered by this Recommendation,
in order to enable the exchange of information and experience on the different
aspects of this Recommendation;

to submit a report once every two years to the European Parliament, the
the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Council,
Regions based on contributions from the Members States on the implementation
of the different aspects covered by this Recommendation.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament
The President

For the Council
The President

13

ANNEX

CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE COVERED BY THE RECOMMENDATION

I.

STUDENTS:

people who study in educational establishments such as those covered by
Article 149(2)(3) of the EC Treaty.

II.

PERSONS UNDERGOING TRAINING:

people who, regardless of their age, attend vocational
including higher education;

training at any level

III.

YOUNG VOLUNTEERS:

people, aged mainly between 18 and 25 who,
the
“European Voluntary Service” or of transnational voluntary projects similar to the
“European Voluntary Service”, undertake an activity of solidarity which is
non-profit making and unpaid, which helps them acquire social and personal skills,
and in exchange for which they receive the support of a mentor.

in the context of

IV.

TEACHERS:

people who teach in educational establishments such as those covered by
Article 149(2)(3) of the EC Treaty;

V.

TRAINERS:

people who provide training both in educational establishments such as those
covered by Article 149(2)(3) of the EC Treaty and in learning centres or
companies.

Note: the abovementioned people are only covered by this Recommendation if they move
from one Member State (the home country) of the Community to another (the host
country) for a limited period of time and return to the home country at the end of their
stay. It does not cover them if they stay in only one Member State, or go to live in another
Member State indefinitely or on a long-term basis.

14

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.

TITLE OF OPERATION

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

2.

BUDGET HEADING INVOLVED

Part A of the general budget, section III (Commission)

3.

LEGAL BASIS

Articles 149 and 150 of the EC Treaty

4.

BUDGET DETAILS

4.1

Period covered by the Recommendation

The Recommendation covers an initial period of two years following its adoption
by the European Parliament and the Council and until the first report from the
Commission (implementation will probably start during the second half of 2001).

5.

TYPE OF EXPENDITURE

involve any operational
Implementation of
expenditure for the Commission. In the context of implementation, two meetings
of experts a year will be organised.

the Recommendation will not

6.

6.1

NEED FOR COMMUNITY INTERVENTION AND OBJECTIVES
PURSUED

Need for Community intervention, with regard in particular to the principle
of subsidiarity

This proposal for a Recommendation constitutes part of the follow-up to the
Green Paper on the obstacles to transnational mobility published by the
Commission in October 1996 (COM(96) 642).

This set out the various obstacles encountered by those wishing to study, teach,
conduct research or take part in voluntary activities in another Member State of
the European Union, and proposed lines of action to tackle these obstacles. The
wide-ranging consultations and discussions which followed – including those at
Member State level and in the Council of Education Ministers of 27 June 1997 -

15

confirmed the existence of the obstacles identified and the case for introducing
corrective measures.

The choice of this legal instrument is justified by the fact that:

-

-

Articles 149 and 150 exclude any harmonisation of national legislation in
this matter.

as the situations are sometimes very different from one Member State to
another, a restrictive and uniform mould for all countries is not desirable.

6.2. General objective

Pursing the main aim of facilitating mobility for those categories of people
concerned, the proposal for a Recommendation invites the Member States to
eliminate the obstacles which still exist despite the acquis communautaire. The
proposal first formulates recommendations applicable to all the categories of
people covered (for example in terms of recognising experience acquired in
another Member State). More specific recommendations are then made for each of
the categories covered.

7.

MONITORING

In accordance with the proposal for a Recommendation, the implementation of the
provisions thereof will be the subject of a report by the Commission two years
after its adoption by the European Parliament and the Council and covering the
period elapsed. This report will assess progress by the Member States in the areas
referred to by the Recommendation.

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8.

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE

Actual mobilisation of the administrative resources required will result from the annual
decision by the Commission on the allocation of resources, taking particular account of
the staff and the additional sums granted by the budgetary authority.

8.1

Effect on the number of posts

Type of post

Staff to be assigned to
managing the operation

Source

Duration

Permanent
posts

Temporary
posts

Additional
resources

Existing
resources
in the DG
or
department
concerned

A

B

C

1.5

0.5

0

Officials or
temporary staff

Other resources

(DNE - A7003)

Total

0

2.0

1.5

0.5

0

0

2.0

8.2 Overall financial impact of human resources

2001-2002

(euros)

Officials 1

Other resources (DNE - A7003)

Amounts

Method of calculation

432 000

108 000 euros x 2 man/year x
2 years

Titles A1, A2, A4, A5, A7

Total

432 000

1

By using existing resources assigned to manage the operation (calculation based on titles A-1, A-2,
A-4, A-5 and A-7) – annual cost.

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8.3 Financial impact of other operational expenditure resulting from the action

(euros)

Budget
description)

heading

(no.

and

Amounts

Method of calculation

A-7030

Cost of meetings

117.000

2 meetings x 3 experts x 15 x
650 euros x 2 years

See 1. below

The appropriations will be taken from the Education and Culture DG existing budget.

1. Covering the following expenditure: two meetings per year of the group of experts created for
this purpose (each Member State designating one expert for students and teachers, one expert
for persons undergoing training and trainers and one expert for young volunteers).

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