An Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) hearing took place on 25 April to discuss the European Commission’s legislative proposal to revise the Professional Qualifications Directive. The hearing served to confirm that a large number of complex issues remain to be solved.
The hearing gathered the lead Committee’s Rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs, as well as expert speakers representing some of the professions affected.
In her opening, IMCO Rapporteur Bernadette Vergnaud MEP (S&D,France) emphasized the Directive’s importance for growth in Europe. She stated that professional mobility is both a right and an opportunity as long as it is organised. Ms Vergnaud also stressed how the diversity of systems was a source of complexity and richness.
Presentations by experts
The expert speakers of the first round were Beata Cholewka, director of the department for nurses and midwives at the Polish Ministry of Health, Dr Sarah Schoenmaekers, lecturer at the University of Maastricht, Dr Zlatko Fras of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), and Dr Vera Erdmann, lecturer at the University of Cologne.
Mr Erdmann explained how the dual education system in Germany worked in practice. She argued that it allowed students not able or wishing to pursue academic studies to leave school in order to undertake vocational training in applied settings. This system, also followed by nursing, have contributed hugely to Germany having the lowest rate of youth unemployment in Europe. Furthermore, Mr Erdmann suggested that an increase in the minimum education length could trigger further skill shortages in Germany , what would present an obstacle for lesser qualified students to enter the profession. It remains to be seen how the particularities of the German education system can be taken into account as minimum education and training standards for nurses and other health professionals are advanced and their quality improved (see also the EPHA-EPF-EWL Joint Statement on this issue).
Regarding partial access, Dr Schoenmaekers said that it should be seen as a last resort in cases where national differences in training required professionals to undertake a full study programme in order to work in the host Member State. She also stated that there would be several safeguards in place, like professionals only being permitted to carry out certain aspects of the profession and only under the title of the host Member State. In practice, partial access would mainly be used for professional specialties. Moreover, overriding reasons of general interest could lead to a refusal, what in the health professions, if justifiable. As for partial qualifications, traineeships undertaken in another Member State should not be automatically refused given that there were common elements to most professions.
Dr Frats supported the move from duration-based medical training to a competence-based approach. He also called for a revision of medical specialties and, given that the same core competencies applied, aharmonised curricula. Making reference to EPHA’s Joint Statement (see above), he argued that patients increasingly demanded common training tools for medical specialists. Dr Frats also underline that it would be advantageous to extend automatic recognition and simplify the whole recognition process. He went on to say that, for common training frameworks to succeed, all stakeholders needed to be involved.
Comments and questions by shadow rapporteurs
The comments and questions of the shadow rapporteurs and IMCO members also reiterated some of EPHA’s concerns:
– The importance of language skills to guarantee patient safety in the health sector was stressed by Cristian Busoi MEP (ALDE, Romania);
– Barbara Weiler MEP (S&D, Germany) stated that. although the German system was generating jobs, it could be improved. She added that health professions such as nursing could be rendered more attractive by offering an EU-level academic education.
EPHA Position on the Modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive
Second part of the Hearing
The second part further explored some of the potentially challenging aspects of introducing a voluntary European Professional Card (EPC) taking the form of an electronic certificate. It included presentations by Marc Seale, Chief Executive and Registrar of the Health Professions Council (HPC), Margarita de Lezcano-Mujica Nunez of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Giovanni Buttarelli, the Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), and Arno Metzler, the EESC Rapporteur on Recognition of Professional Qualifications.
Mr Seale stated that the success of the EPC depended on building confidence through a network of competent authorities working together at national, regional and local levels.
Ms de Lezcano-Mujica Nunez presented a SWOT analysis of the EPC and she pointed out that there were often different competent authorities in one country at national and regional levels, or in the case of Spain in its autonomous regions. The deadlines for home Member States were too short in her opinion as processing an application required human and technical resources that were not always available. The availability of funds, translation of content, and the level of control by Member States represented further obstacles.
Mr Buttarelli explained that the EDPS recommendation was to only issue an IMI alert if a professional had been barred from exercising his functions by the competent authorities in the Member State(s) in question as information-sharing via alerts presented a number of problems related to data confidentiality, and the assumption of innocence should prevail. It was the EDPS opinion that a harmonised approach should be taken regarding retention periods in IMI and confidentiality. The IMI should merely be a warning mechanism and not a permanent blacklist.
Mr Metzler pointed out that many professions differed profoundly between countries, including the nursing profession. However, he predicted that there will be more mobility in the profession to fill gaps in many countries, and the EPC could be a helpful tool. Pilot projects both for professions falling under the general system and under automatic recognition would help determine the practical issues at stake.
In the ensuing discussion Malgorzata Handzlik MEP (EPP, Poland) stated that the EPC should not be introduced at the peril of patients’ safety in the health professions.
Juergen Tiedje, the head of the Professional Qualifications unit at DG MARKT in charge of the revision, summarised the key points brought up in the hearing and said that a number of challenges remained to be solved, however this could be achieved.
Bernadette Vergnaud closed the hearing by saying that the EP political groups and competent authorities were working closely together and in cooperation with the Commission, however it was not always so easy to work with all 27 Member States.
For further information
– DG MARKT – Free movement of professionals
– IMCO subject file – Modernisation of Professional Qualifications Directive
EPHA related articles
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