The Commission Green Paper 'Education-Training-Research: Obstacles to Transnational Mobility' looks at some of these problems and puts forward some ideas for solutions.
Various groups are addressed in the Green Paper and various issues are discussed that apply to some or all of these groups. You can find more detailed information by clicking on the relevant heading below. This will provide details of the problems identified in the Green Paper, suggested solutions and will also give you the opportunity to contribute your own comments and suggestions.
Candidates for company placements in another Member State, intending to follow a training programme leading to qualifications, run up against the greatest number of obstacles. Where trainees are not considered as students, workers or members of a workers family, or officially unemployed (they do not receive unemployment benefits), they encounter numerous difficulties related to the right of residence or tax status.
The Green Paper suggests the following lines of action to improve the situation of trainees on placements:
Volunteers are often in a similar postion to trainees in that their unclear status means that they often encounter problems linked to taxation, rights of residence and social security cover, both in their home and host countries.
The solutions identified in the Green Paper are similar to those for trainees:
Researchers in receipt of Community 'Marie Curie' research grants do not enjoy the same status in all Member States. Each Member State applies its own rules to researchers with respect to their social security contributions and direct taxation. Their status can vary from student, to self-employed workers to employee. This will result in less of the grant being dedicated to research, as it will be paid in direct taxation or social security. This will have repercussion for the programme as a whole, as fewer funds will be going towards the actual research activities and it may even have the efrfect of discouraging potential participants.
The Green Paper suggests the following line of action to improve the situation of researchers:
Nationals of non-European Union countries who are legally resident in one Member State can often encounter problems if they want to undertake training in another Member State of the European Union. While the Schengen agreement may have clarified the situation for short stays in participating countries; problems remain for stays over three months, or stays of any length in non-Schengen countries.
The Green Paper suggests:
Social security may constitute a major obstacle to mobility. This is a particular problem for unemployed people, who risk forfeiting their rights, either temporarily or permanently depending on their home country, if they go abroad to receive training for more than three months.
The lack of social protection provided in the host country can also be an obstacle to mobility, particularly for students. Currently students are covered when they are insured by the social security system of a Member State as a worker or as a member of the family of a worker. In order to guarantee social security coverage in the host country, their status needs to be brought into line with those of others receiving training. This situation can also apply to volunteers and those on work placements.
The territorially restricted nature of national grants may constitute a serious obstacle to 'spontaneous' mobility. With the exception of students who are studying in another Member State under the ERASMUS programme, it is very difficult for students travelling abroad to transfer their grants
The Green Paper suggests:
Many training activities do not lead to any official recognition or certification. In certain cases, students encounter real difficulties in either taking exams in the host country, or having them recognised in their own country, or presenting them in their country of origin when they return. Sometimes it is not just difficult but impossible. Some students may even find themselves having to repeat some or all of the training just completed.
The Green Paper suggests the following lines of action in this area:
Click on the relevant theme below to submit your contribution.
Please let us have your comments, suggestions and question on the issues raised in the Green Paper. If you would like a response from the Commission do not forget to include your name and address/e-mail address.