EURONEST PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
ASSEMBLÉE PARLEMENTAIRE EURONEST
PARLAMENTARISCHE VERSAMMLUNG EURONEST
ПАРЛАМЕНТСКАЯ AССАМБЛЕЯ ЕВРОНЕСТ
Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society
NEST_PV(2016)0321
MINUTES
of the meeting of 21 March 2016, 18.00-20.30
Brussels
The meeting opened on Monday 21 March 2016 at 18h08, under the co-chairmanship of Mr
Georgi PIRINSKI (items 1 to 4) and Ms Karine ATSHEMYAN (items 5 to 8).
Mr PIRINSKI welcomed all the members of the Committee on Social Affairs, Education,
Culture and Civil Society, informing them that interpretation was available, as requested, in EN
and RU. He further reminded of the seating arrangements foreseen in order to allow smooth
electronic voting.
1.
Adoption of draft agenda
M PIRINSKI informed that point 6, on the Development of active citizenship as a way to
strengthen local democracy in EaP countries, would have be postponed at the request of the
Committee of the Regions (CoR); the point had, indeed, been included in the hope that the CoR
relevant rapporteur, Mr ADAMOWICZ, Mayor of Gdansk, would be able to make a
presentation on this topic. The rapporteur not being available, the point would therefore be
treated in a forthcoming meeting.
2.
Approval of the minutes of the meeting of the Committee on Social Affairs,
Education, Culture and Civil Society held on 5-6 November in Tbilisi, Georgia
M. PIRINSKI warmly thanked the Georgian parliament for the organisation of this successful
meeting in Tbilisi in November 2015 – which also featured a field-trip to Signagi, where
Members were greeted by M. Levan BERDZENISHVILI, Chair of the European Integration
Committee, which allowed all of them to get acquainted with Georgia's rich cultural heritage a dimension within the remit of the Committee.
The minutes, prepared by the Georgian secretariat, were thus adopted without changes.
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3.
Communications by the Co-Chairs
Mr. PIRINSKI informed that the EaP Co-Chairmanship of the Committee would be
temporarily taken over by the 1st Vice-Chair on the Eastern Partner's side, Ms Karine
ATSHEMYAN, given that the position of EaP Co-Chair, reserved for a Member of the
Azerbaijani Delegation to the Euronest PA, was still vacant. He further informed Members that
an ongoing reflection on the functioning of the Assembly would probably mean that, in the
future, Committees would be encouraged to hold joint sessions. For the Social Affairs
Committee, this would mean joint sessions with the Political Committee, while the Energy and
Economic Committees would, similarly, meet together.
4.
Consideration of amendments and vote on the draft report on "the mutual
recognition of professional qualifications work experience and the university
diplomas within the Bologna process"; Co-Rapporteurs Ms Norica NICOLAI
(MEP) and Ms Oxana DOMENTI, MP (Moldova).
Mr PIRINSKI reminded that a first exchange of views with a presentation of the draft report
had taken place in Tbilisi on 5 November 2015, in presence of the Bologna Follow-Up Group
members from Georgia. Their views enriched the debate, and probably proved stimulating to
all Members - who were invited to submit amendments until a deadline, which was extended
to early February. He then invited the Committee’s two Co-Rapporteurs, Ms Norica NICOLAI
(ALDE, RO) and Ms Oxana DOMENTI (Moldova) to take the floor for a general presentation
of the topic.
Ms NICOLAI warmly thanked her Co-Rapporteur, as well as fellow Committee Members for
their contributions to the draft report; she noted that 56 amendments had been received, as well
as some Compromise Amendments, something which demonstrated the real interest this report
on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications work experience and the university
diplomas within the Bologna process had generated. The issue remained a pertinent one for the
EU Member States, where subsidiarity was an element which meant that ‘we are far from being
united in this area’, as well as for EaP countries, where efforts were often obstructed by
‘bureaucratic procedures’. One of the main challenges tackled in the report was quality of
education; as to the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and work experience,
concrete steps were, furthermore, proposed, such as the creation of a European Neighbourhood
Professional Card.
Fellow Co-Rapporteur Oxana DOMENTI reminded of the wider context of this report, which
was the internationalisation of higher education, and issue that was closely linked to the labour
market gaps being witnessed in some countries. She furthermore stressed that many
amendments were aiming at improving the recognition of the professional qualification process,
which was very often, marred by too costly, too lengthy, or too bureaucratic procedures. Many
amendments, backed by the co-rapporteur, were thus proposing the creation of an mutual &
automatic procedure scheme in the wider European High Education Area; other aspects which
were key to the report included equal treatment, increasing trust in the quality and transparency
of qualifications, and addressing the phenomenon of ‘diploma mills’ ; Ms DOMENTI
furthermore underlined Erasmus+ as an efficient tool which contributed to student mobility
across the continent, and hoped that it would be further fostered in the future, with the
mobilisation of ambitious budgetary resources.
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Ms Kamyla PARTIKA and Ms Mette ANDERSEN (DG Education and Culture) as well as M.
Konstantinos TOMARAS and Ms Eva VAN DER MOSEN (DG Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs) all intervened on behalf of the European Commission; they
reminded that the Bologna process allowed addressing the issue of academic qualifications, but
not of professional qualifications.
Academic recognition of degrees was the key to the process, but there still was a very uneven
level of implementation of the Bologna Process amongst participating states. Erasmus+ was a
very useful instrument to further enhance modernisation efforts in the EaP countries, where
more support towards the autonomy of higher education institutions was needed. As to ‘quality
assurance’ in higher education, it was reminded that the Yerevan ministerial communiqué had
revisited the relevant standards and guidelines.
As to professional qualifications, it was stressed that, in the EU, whether or not, and how, to
regulate a profession remained within the competence of Member-States; the directive to
facilitate professional recognition of qualifications only concerned a limited number of
professions; the last attempt to launch a, wide-ranging, automatic recognition scheme in the EU
dated back to the eighties, as the exercise had proved, in practice, to be an extremely difficult
one for Member States to agree upon. The European Commission thus felt that while the issue
was, indeed, a very important one, it was perhaps preferable to follow a ‘step by step’ approach.
Setting a mutual recognition target, rather than an automatic recognition one, was therefore
probably more realistic in the short/middle term.
The following Members spoke during the ensuing debate: Ms Chiora TAKTAKISHVILI
(Georgia), M. Tevan POGHOSYAN (Armenia), Ms Iskra MIHAYLOVA (EPP, PL), M. Vitalii
KURYLO (Ukraine), Mr Vitalii KORCHYK (Ukraine), Mr Jaromir STETINA (EPP, CZ), Ms
Agnieszka KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EPP, PL), Ms Guguli MAGRADZE (Georgia). The
discussion thus focused on raising issues pertaining to old mentalities still present in the
education sphere and the need to address this issue as well as to tackle corruption (Ms
Taktakishvili); more cooperation with EU structures could also help to strengthen academic
independence in EaP higher education institutions, as, in some cases, dealing with the legacy
of the (soviet) past also meant turning the page of an ‘over-politisation’ of some higher
education institutions (Mr Poghosyan). The value of projects involving the Youth such as
Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus was, furthermore, underlined by many participants (notably
Ms Mihaylova). On the other hand, it was also reminded that not all EU-Member States had
ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention, even though all EaP countries had done so (M.
Kurylo).
At the issue of the debate, the draft report was put to the vote alongside with the proposed
amendments and compromise amendments; it was unanimously adopted, as amended, with 15
votes in favour, zero against, and zero abstentions.
5.
Exchange of views on the situation of women in the labour market in the Eastern
Partnership countries.
Co-Chair Karine ATSHEMYAN recalled that this subject was proposed by Ms
KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EPP, PL) in the framework of the last Committee meeting in
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Yerevan as a topic for a forthcoming report of our Committee. It had, thus, already been agreed
at the time that while the 2015/2016 report would focus on the Bologna process, the one after,
in 2016/2017, would deal with the issue of women in the labour market in the Eastern
partnership countries. This development had taken place in parallel with the Euronest
Parliamentary Assembly, which had scheduled its inaugural meeting for the following day, in
presence of the World Bank and the EEAS.
Ms ATSHEMYAN furthermore informed Committee Members that, in order to stimulate a
common reflexion on the matter, the European Parliament's Policy Unit had produced a
Briefing, which had been distributed. While it remained to Members to make a political choice
in deciding which elements ought to be further underlined and which were the issues where
concrete scrutiny and proposals were needed, this technical briefing already provided useful
input on the following issues: trends and differences in the Eastern Partnership countries when
it came to women's integration in the labour force; followed by a brief panorama of the situation
country per country.
Ms ATSHEMYAN also pointed out that the last Eastern Partnership Summit declaration of
May 2015 in Riga explicitly stated that gender equality was a promising new area of
cooperation. The European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans of all EaP countries (except
Belarus) thus all included references to gender equality; as the European Parliament was
planning an own-imitative report on the matter, Euronest PA Members were looking forward
to remaining in touch in the following months with their colleagues from the EP's own Women's
Rights and Gender Equality Committee. Ms ATSHEMYAN furthermore briefed Members
extensively about the situation in Armenia, presenting relevant statistical data about
developments in the field.
Taking the floor, both Ms Magradze (Georgia) and Ms Koslowska-Rajewicz (EPP,PL) stressed
the value of the Women’s Forum, which had just been set-up with the help of Ms Heidi Hautala
(Greens/EFA, FIN), Co-President of the Euronest PA; Ms Koslowska-Rajewicz underlined that
women’s rights were indissociable from human rights, and at the very core of European culture.
Despite a difference in the national context, the same challenges could therefore be observed in
EU and EaP countries alike – affecting, for instance, the right to work (labour market gaps,
pension gaps) or maternity issues; in all cases, gender inequalities, however, came at an extra
economic cost – which meant that tackling the issue ought to be a priority both in Human Rights
and Economic Development terms.
6.
Exchange of views on the Development of active citizenship as a way to strengthen
local democracy in EaP countries; presentation by Mr Adamowicz, Mayor of
Gdansk, Committee of the Regions rapporteur
This point was postponed to a forthcoming meeting of the Committee, at the request of the
Committee of the Regions and due to the non-availability of Mr ADAMOWICZ.
7.
Planning and preparation of the Committee's activities for 2016-17
Ms ATSHEMYAN reminded Members that the Euronest PA Plenary was expected to discuss
and decide the measures, which could allow Committees to work more efficiently; one of these
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was, probably, for the Social Affairs Committee to be called to work more closely with the
Political Affairs Committee in the future.
As to the frequency of meetings, statistical evidence had shown that, unfortunately, some EaP
MPs but, mainly, MEPs had met with difficulty, in all 4 Committees, in following a pace of 2
meetings a year - and this was particularly evident in November 2015, when meetings were not
held in the margins of a Euronest Plenary. A preliminary proposal had however been submitted
by Georgia in hosting the next SOC meeting in late September 2016; Members would be
informed of any such development, depending also on the outcome of the Euronest PA reform
ongoing discussions.
8.
Any other business
Ms Oxana DOMENTI (Moldova) took the floor to underline that the issue of social security
rights, in the context of migration, was one which merited closer scrutiny, given the difficulties
faced in aggregating different periods of time worked in different countries, under various and
not always compatible social security schemes, by migrant workers; if not by way of a report,
given that the current rules of procedure only allowed one report being discussed at a time, Ms
Domenti proposed the creation of a working group within the Committee in order to further
explore the subject and for this Working Group’s findings to be shared with fellow Committee
members. Mr Tevan POGHOSYAN (Armenia) strongly seconded the proposal, which was
duly noted by the Co-Chairs, calling Ms Domenti, and fellow Members interested in
participating to this working group, to contact in a written form the Secretariat.
The meeting closed at 20h26.
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EURONEST PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
ASSEMBLÉE PARLEMENTAIRE EURONEST
PARLAMENTARISCHE VERSAMMLUNG EURONEST
ПАРЛАМЕНТСКАЯ AССАМБЛЕЯ ЕВРОНЕСТ
Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society
Meeting of 21 March 2016
Brussels
Participating MEPs
Mr Giorgi PIRINSKI, Bulgaria, S&D, Co-Chair
Mr Marek JUREK, Poland, ECR
Mrs Agnieszka KOZŁOWSKA-RAJEWICZ, Poland, EPP
Mrs Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Bulgaria, ALDE
Mrs Norica NICOLAI, Romania, ALDE
Mr Traian UNGUREANU, Romania, EPP
Mrs Tatjana ŽDANOKA, Latvia, Greens
Mr Bogdan Andrzej ZDROJEWSKI, Poland, EPP
Participating EaP Members
Mr Artak ZAKARYAN, Armenia
Mrs Karine ATSHEMYAN, Armenia, 1st Vice Co-Chair
Mr Tevan POGOSYAN, Armenia
Mrs Guguli MAGRADZE, Georgia
Mrs Chiora TAKTAKISHVILI, Georgia
Mrs Oxana DOMENTI, Moldova
Mr Vitalii KURYLO, Ukraine
Mr Vitalii KORCHYK, Ukraine
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