A main focus at the EESC-Meeting of the Liberal Professions Category on the 27th November 2024 was the disscusion about the Special Report 10/2024 of the European Court about the recognition of professional qualifications in the EU. 

ECEC-President Klaus Thürriedl was invited to this meeting for a keynote respectively a presentation to introduce the Common Training Framework (CFT) for Civil Engineers as a best-practise example of an powerful implementation to enhance professional mobility, safety and transparency for clients, consumers, and the public and explained the concept, the advantages, safety and economic aspects as follows:

• Professionals can benefit from faster and easier professional recognition in another country if they fulfil the requirements of a Common Training Framework.

• At the same time, there is no disadvantage whatsoever for those professionals who do not fulfil the standards, as they remain in the current system of equality evaluation. Our proposal guarantees a simple and better system which does not impose regulatory redundancies.

• Implementing a Common Training Framework does not require changes in national training programmes nor amendments to the curricula, as the standard European curricula already fulfil the requirements.

• While a Common Training Framework does not replace National Law, it represents a substantial step towards a common and European understanding of the standard of (Civil) Engineering education.

• It does not create any new regulations for the profession nor are there negative consequences for non-regulated countries (= countries which do not have professional regulation per se, but regulate the professional requirements in other Laws, mainly building Laws). The only additional requirement for them could be the need to notify curricula fulfilling the CTF / providing certification to their nationals fulfilling the CTF requirements. The example of the architectural profession shows that such a requirement is easily implemented and does not represent an excessive regulatory or administrative burden for countries.

• CTF is also a valuable tool to address the skills shortages in the future in the EU and beyond. Europe needs Engineers. At the current pace, we will need to mobilise those professional profiles from outside the Union. A common CTF can support this process, irrespective of the country of entry of qualified professionals from outside the EU. It can be a basis for the negotiation of Mutual Recognition Agreements.

Thürriedl closed the presentation with his good experience based on a good exchange with the European Commission, that the ECEC and also the ECCE are confident that an agreement during the upcoming political period is possible and would also like to stress that the European Court of Auditor’s special report on professional recognition of – among others – Civil Engineers in the EU is very helpful by clearly showing the necessity and the benefits of the implementation of a CTF for Civil Engineers.

Find the whole presentation HERE