Recognition of Professional Qualification (Directive)

There is an unsolvable conflict of interests between the establishment of a barrier-free labour market in the EU and maintaining high qualification levels. Facilitating the recognition of foreign diplomas in the low-level qualification sector is justifiable; the impermeability of the high-level qualification sector, however, is not. The proposed EU training principles create a systematic tendency towards quality erosion; they threaten the German dual vocational training system substantially. The EU does not have the competence to define the contents of training or testing standards. The increased requirements for the healthcare professions are met not by extending the amount of time spent in general education but by providing better vocational training.