17 July 2007
News from the EU
EU Professional Qualifications
The Employment Committee of the European Parliament adopted, on 14 June 2007, a report on professional qualifications, establishing that the qualifications acquired in any EU Member State should be comparable across the EU by 2012. The implementation by the National Authorities of this European Qualification Framework (EQF), which should be accompanied by a system of Vocational Training Credits, will facilitate cross border mobility of workers and students who meet the requirements of the employment market through a common language employed to describe qualification levels. The report should be voted in plenary in September 2007.
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New directive proposal on supplementary pensions
The European Parliament has approved the proposal for a new directive on supplementary pensions which aims to facilitate workers’ mobility in the EU Member States by establishing minimum standards for the acquisition and maintenance of the supplementary pension rights, and thus make them easier to carry across borders. The objective of this Directive is to harmonise the conditions for acquiring supplementary pension rights; to tighten up the rules governing the transfer of acquired rights, and; to improve the information given to workers on how mobility may affect supplementary pension rights.
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Cyprus and Malta to adopt the euro in 2008
The European Commission and the European Central Bank approved on 10 July 2007 that Malta and Cyprus adopt the euro as their currency as from 1st January 2008, as they fulfil the necessary conditions to adopt it. This decision will enlarge the euro area from 13 to 15 Member States. The EFN members will, therefore, be able to use the euro for the EFN General Assembly to be held in Cyprus, in October 2008!
Publications
“Healthier together in the EU”
The European Commission has published a brochure entitled “Healthier Together in the EU” which describes the scope of work on health that the EU is carrying out, in order to help protecting the EU citizens and enable them to make healthy choices and live healthier lives.
The social situation in the European Union 2005-2006
The European Commission has recently published a report entitled “The social situation in the European Union 2005-2006 - The balance between generations in an ageing Europe”, which provides key data and perspective analysis on the situations of families, looking in particular at the balance between the generations.