91998E2057

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2057/98

by Felipe Camisón Asensio (PPE) to the Council

(6 July 1998)

Subject: Europass training certificate

When and how will European vocational training student be granted access to the above programme? Will it have advantages and facilities similar to those of the Erasmus programme?

Reply

(22 October 1998)

The promotion of European pathways in work-linked training, including apprenticeship, is not a Community programme. It involves a document certifying at Community level that a person has completed training periods in another Member State. The use of the Europass Training certificate is intended to ensure a higher profile for the skills and experience acquired during a training period abroad. Thus it differs considerably in approach from the Erasmus programme, which itself has been replaced by the Socrates programme and is concerned with university exchanges.

At its sitting on 16 July 1998 the European Parliament acknowledged receipt of a Council common position on the proposal for a Council Decision on the promotion of European pathways in work-linked training, including apprenticeship. The President of the European Parliament requested a one-month extension of the period available to the Parliament to deliver its Opinion.

The Council will return to the matter once the European Parliament has delivered its Opinion. It might be able to reach a political agreement on the text at its meeting on Labour and Social Affairs on 2 December 1998.

Once adopted, the Decision will take effect on 1 January 2000.