First EU Single Market Forum impacts on professional qualifications and public procurement

The Single Market Forum held in Cracow on 2-4 October dealt with a number of health system issues that EPHA has been actively involved in - resulting in a declaration which echoes most of EPHA’s viewpoints.


Organised jointly by the European Parliament, the Polish Presidency and the European Commission, the first Single Market Forum (SMF) was held in Cracow, Poland on 2-4 October 2011.

Prior to the start of the Single Market Forum and in the light of these discussions, EPHA had already issued a Joint Statement with the European Patients’ Forum (EPF), the European Women’s League (EWL), and the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC) to stress that the minimum training standards of health professionals must not be compromised in order to relaunch the Single Market.

The Single Market Forum [1] gathered more than 1,000 participants discussing notably professional qualifications and public procurement.

- EPHA’s response to the Green Paper consultation on the Revision of the Professional Qualifications Directive),

- EPHA’s response to the public consultation on Reviewing the Public Procurement Directive).

Results of the Single Market Forum: the Cracow Declaration

During the plenary session, participants discussed the conclusions from the workshops and agreed on a "Cracow Declaration", which highlights areas for improving the functioning of the Single Market:

- Introduction of a safe and flexible European Professional Card (or certificate) that should operate in conjunction with the Internal Market Information System (IMI)

- EU institutions should clarify which authority can deliver the card, what degree of harmonisation is necessary and how to deal with unregulated professions

- Launch of a pilot project involving IMI and several Member States

- ’’Points of Single Contact’’ should become fully fledged e-Government centres and technical barriers should be overcome (e.g., interoperability of electronic documents, signatures, IDs)

- Public procurement should be professionalised through improved training, stability and predictability of the legal framework

- Possibilities to achieve other policy objectives (green, social, innovation) should be explored.

EPHA has also produced a briefing on the Single Market.

Related EPHA articles:

- European Parliament health committee opinion on public procurement
- A New Strategy for the Single Market
- Relaunch of the Single Market Act - without health

Footnotes

[1] European Commission: "The Single Market Forum forms part of the Single Market Act and will periodically gather market participants, e.g. businesses, social partners, non-governmental organisations and those representing citizens, public authorities at various levels of government and parliaments. It will examine the state of the Single Market, the transposition and application of directives, and exchange best practice. The Forum will contribute to policy evaluation s and will play its part in monitoring the implementation of the Single Market Act and its impact at grassroots level."

Last modified on November 8 2011.