Activities of Emma McCLARKIN related to 2011/2024(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Implementation of Professional Qualifications Directive (debate)
Implementation of Professional Qualifications Directive (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) PDF (243 KB) DOC (180 KB)
Amendments (30)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas SOLVIT cases relating to professional qualifications numbered 220 in 2010, with over two-thirds of these cases emerging from just four Member States,
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas around 100,000 decisions on recognition have occurred under the Directive since 2007, enabling the mobility of 85,000 professionals1, __________________ 1 European Commission, "Evaluation of the Professional Qualifications Directive", Brussels, 5 July 2011
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas health professionals are the most mobile among regulated professions in the EU, with around 57,200 doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, midwives and veterinary surgeons being granted recognition between 2007 and 2010,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls for a mandatory obligation for competent authorities to provide up-to- date contact information to all other competent authorities in their given profession;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Encourages Member States, competent authorities andCalls on the Commission to coordinate and consolidate the various sources of information currently available to professionals - including National Contact Points (NCPs), SOLVIT, and professional bodies - byand to establishing an accessible online portal on the Commission’s website, which would provide relevant and up-to-date information on the recognition process, including administrative information on competent authorities and professional bodies and the documents to be submitted by professionals in order to secure recognition of their qualifications;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to further encourage mobility among professionals; argues that the relatively low numbers of mobile professionals is a cause for concern and suggests that strategies be devised in order to tackle this problem; underlines the result of the recent Eurobarometer survey according to which more than 50 per cent of young people in Europe are willing or keen to work abroad1; __________________ 1 European Commission - Flash Eurobarometer, "Youth on the Move: Analytical Report", May 2011
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for further clarification of the concept of temporary and occasional provision of services after numerous concerns were raised in the Commission’s public consultation of 20113; argues that competent authorities face difficulties in applying the regime and, therefore,, where there is no consistent approach in assessing the temporary and occasional nature of a service and where it is extremely difficult to monitor the service providers’ activities on the ground; calls on the Commission to evaluate the current provisions set out in Article 7 of the directive and to provide further explanation concerning existing case-law, specifically those concernregarding public health and safety, and to present its conclusions to Parliament; insists, however, that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ definition would be impossible to develop and would undermine Member State subsidiarity; __________________ 3 European Commission, "Public Consultation on the Modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive: Summary of Responses", (Brussels, 5 July 2011)
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Insists that Article 7(4) of the Directive, which allows Member States to carry out prior checks of qualifications for those professions related to health and safety and not already covered under automatic recognition, is considered essential by a vast majority of stakeholders; argues, however, that in order to enhance transparency, Member States should clarify which professions they consider to have health and safety implications; calls on the Commission to investigate the possibility of expanding the prior check regime to health professionals already benefiting from automatic recognition in order to close any potential loop hole in the system;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Urges the Commission to make it clear that a declaration for the purposes of temporary mobility should be valid throughout the territory of a Member State and that competent authorities of different regions of the same Member State should not be allowed to ask for separate declarations for the same professional;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that compensation measures, which allow competent authorities to impose an aptitude test or an adaptation period of up to three years and play an invaluable role in ensuring consumer and patient safety, can be applied in a disproportionate manner; calls for better explanations and enhanced transparency of decision-making when applying compensation measures for professionals and for an evaluation of the Code of Conduct to assist competent authorities;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls for non-binding EU guidelines on the application of compensation measures, to be devised in consultation with competent authorities, professional bodies, Member States and the European Parliament;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to look into the possibility of further extending the scope for automatic recognition in future;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission to update, in line with scientific and technical developments the current classification of economic activities for the automatic recognition systems based on professional experience and, the minimum training requirements for the sectoral professions, to update the current classification of economic activities based on professional experience and to establish a simple mechanism for continually updating minimum training requirements;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Argues that the current procedure for notification of new diplomas is too complex; calls on the Commission to facilitate notification of new diplomas and to update Annex V of the Directive in a more timely manner;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Furthermore, calls on the Commission to enhance transparency by facilitating comparisons between Member States’ minimum training requirements;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Is of the opinion that, for the revised directive to be future-proof, the Commission should propose a simple mechanism for regular update of the minimum training requirements;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Argues that fewer regulated professions would enhance the mobility and job prospects of citizens and help to facilitate much needed economic growth;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. In the case of healthcare professionals, calls on the Commission to evaluate whether an appropriate solution to the varying levels of CPD in Member States might be compensation measures;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Commission to encourage the cooperation between Member States and professional bodies in order to move towards a common practice in the area of continuous professional development;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Urges the Commission not to fragment the process of modernising automatic recognition, as is suggested in the Green Paper, and to ensure that Parliament is given proper oversight when making substantial changes to the Directive;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Insists that the proactive alert mechanism conforms to existing data protection provisions;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Stresses that, in order to protect patients, practitioners providing e-Health services should ensure the same quality and safety standards as for the provision of non-electronic healthcare services; it should therefore be clarified that the requirements of this directive, and, if necessary, additional ones, should apply to e-Health service providers;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Insists that, for healthcare professionals, the ability to communicate with colleagues and patients is fundamental in order to avoid dangerous or potentially life-threatening situations;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission and Member States to revise the language requirements regime for the healthcare professions by providing competent authorities with the necessary flexibility to ascertain and, only if necessary, test the language skills of professionals as part of the recognition process; considers that the principle of proportionality should be thoroughly applied in this regard so that such tests do not become an additional burden;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission and Member States to revise the language requirements regime for the healthcare professions by providing competent authorities with the necessary flexibility to ascertain and, if necessary, test the language skills of professionals as part of the recognition process; without prejudicing the ability of employers to satisfy themselves regarding language competence of professionals when recruiting to a particular post;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls for the mandatory introduction of the IMI for competent authorities in order to facilitate proactive administrative cooperation and simplify recognition procedures; considers that the IMI could be further enhanced, for instance by expanding the functionalities available in order to facilitate the work of national authorities;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls on Member States to promote the benefits of the Directive to its citizens and professionals;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Highlights that the concept of common platforms, as outlined in Article 15 of the directive, has not been successful in that no such platforms currently exist; argues that they have the potential to be useful tools in facilitating mobility and that they should be defined and controlled by the professionals themselves; calls on the Commission to clarify the concept in a revised article and to evaluate the proposal to lower the threshold for Member State participation;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Welcomes recent reforms undertaken as part of the Bologna process and the benefits this process provides to European students in terms of mobility and employability; encourages the European Commission to assist Member States in making the European Credit Transfer Scheme (ECTS) more transparent and comparable in order for ECTS to become an essential tool facilitating the mutual recognition of qualifications and ultimately mobility;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Considers thatEagerly awaits the results of the concept of a voluntargoing professional card pilot projects; insists that any Pprofessional Ccard, which must be linked to an electronic database such as the IMI, must be voluntary and must be linked to the IMI system; believes that a voluntary professional card could be a useful tool to aid mobility for some professions; stresses that any cardthe introducetion of any card must meet specific safety and data protection conditions and insists that the necessary safeguards against abuse and fraud must be established;