EFPA EMC 12/2005 : The Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications 2002 (COM) 119 has finally been accepted by both the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
To the Presidents of EFPA Member Associations
Dear Colleagues,
The Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications 2002 (COM) 119 has finally been accepted by both the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
This is a very important step for the profession of psychologists. It provides a completely new possibility for EFPA to make a direct proposal to the European Commission on the European standard concerning the education and training of psychologists in Europe (EuroPsy).
The Directive Article 15 confirms the possibility for representative European professional associations – like EFPA – to make proposals to the European Commission on “common platforms” or “minimum requirements” which would lead to automatic recognition of professional qualifications without any further compensation measures.
EFPA is now in the position to proceed and present its proposal formally to the European Commission as a draft. Of course, first we will have to accept the basic principles of the EuroPsy project report in the Granada General Assembly as the basis of this standard.
The European Commission will establish a Committee to consider the proposal according to the Directive Article 54. This Committee will consist of the representatives of the European Commission and the 25 EU Member States. The Committee will invite an expert group on psychology to consider whether our proposal can be accepted.
This Committee procedure will probably not take place before late 2005 or early 2006.
It is also important to note that the proposal by EAP (European Association of Psychotherapy) to include “psychotherapists” in the Directive as a separate professional group was rejected by the European Council and the Parliament.
Therefore, the door is now wide open for EFPA to present the education and training standards for psychologists in the European Union and the rest of Europe. We can make an official proposal to the European Commission – and if and when necessary – modify our proposal according to the consultation and advice given to us by the Commission and its Committee.
At the same time we have a possibility to test the practical procedures concerning the European Diploma in Psychology and/or registering those European psychologists whose education and training fulfils the EuroPsy standard. This consultation and experimenting period will take its time and require a lot of work in 2005-07.
The final text of the accepted Directive is still in the process of translation to all 20 EU languages. Therefore, the final version has not been published yet. It will be done very soon.
However, the Commission has published its view on the Article 15 procedure on how to build “common platforms”. It can be found on website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/qualifications/docs/future/platforms_en.pdf
Best regards,
Tuomo Tikkanen
President
