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Cross-border
economic
development
70
Cross-cutting themes in cross-border economic development
territory than towards follow-up and personalised support to help
job-seekers find work.
The French-German framework cooperation agreement for job
placement
108
signed on 26 February 2013 develops a cross-border
job placement service that focuses on follow-up and personalised
support to help job-seekers find work. It is a textbook example of
operational cross-border governance.
108
The Project Factsheet page 101.
© Médiathèque European Commission
Equivalence of diplomas and
certificates
For workers to have the incentive to cross the border, they have
to be able to find jobs with equivalent skill and wage levels in the
neighbouring country.
However, the lack of clarity regarding equivalences of diplomas and
professional certificates acquired on one side of the border deters
members of certain professions from working across the border.
A two-pronged action is required: efforts to achieve legal recognition of
diplomas and qualifications and to promote workers’ and employers’
awareness of these equivalences.
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The 2005/36/EC Directive of 7 May 2005
consolidated and
updated procedures for the recognition of qualifications for the
practice of professions regulated in the EU, but did not establish
a system for the automatic recognition of diplomas.
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In France, the ENIC-NARIC centre
is charged with recognising
foreign diplomas (by establishing certificates of comparability)
and informing their holders. It also assists French workers
with formalities abroad. If needed, there may be cooperation
between the ENIC-NARIC centre and equivalent agencies in
the neighbouring countries. Such collaboration exists with the
compulsory education services of the General Administration
for Scientific Education and Research of the Wallonia-Brussels
Federation.
The recognition of diplomas and qualifications is an issue addressed at
the European and transnational levels; however, cross-border territories
are a focal point for this issue and have become testing grounds for
dealing with it.
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The EURES-T networks
strive to improve communication on
these tools and INTERREG projects help to draw up standard
guidelines for vocational training, mostly for professions where
there are shortages in the cross-border territory, together with
systems for the validation of prior experience (“Multiform” for the
France-Wallonia-Flanders programme, “Formation professionnelle
sans frontières” for the Upper Rhine programme, “Modularisation
de l’offre de formation transfrontalière”, “Plateforme transfrontalière
de formation professionnelle” and “VAE en zone frontalière” for
the France-Switzerland programme, etc.). These systems are also
intended for less skilled workers, who are increasingly vulnerable
given the rising level of employer requirements.