Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2007)443 - European Training Foundation (recast) - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2007)443 - European Training Foundation (recast). |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2007)443  |
| date | 25-07-2007 |
The European Training Foundation, hereinafter referred to as the ETF or the Foundation, is a decentralised EU agency created under Council Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90 of 7 May 1990 i. ETF is situated in Turin, Italy.
According to its founding Regulation, the ETF’s overall objective is to contribute to developing vocational training systems in partner countries falling within its geographical scope.
The ETF was originally created to support implementation of the PHARE external assistance programme in the vocational training field. However, following three consecutive amendments to its founding Regulation, the ETF has acquired an extended geographical scope also covering the countries of the previous TACIS, CARDS and MEDA programmes.
Since the ETF’s founding Regulation was last amended, there have been important developments in the European Union’s policy outlook in both the education & training and external relations fields, while new instruments have been adopted to implement these policies. Accordingly, it is felt that a new amendment to the ETF founding Regulation is necessary to take into account recent developments, to update its role and function and to provide a sound basis for its future work.
In 2005 the Commission presented a draft Interinstitutional Agreement on the operating framework for the European Regulatory Agencies i. Although this framework, which is still at the proposal stage, is primarily intended to guide the Commission in setting up new decentralised agencies, its principles should also be taken into account when proposing significant amendments to the founding Regulations of existing agencies, with the long-term aim of achieving a high degree of convergence on key issues. This proposal was prepared taking into account the principles of the draft Interinstitutional Agreement (hereinafter IIAOFA).
Furthermore, this legislative proposal aims to provide a recasting version of the ETF founding Regulation, in line with the Interinstitutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts i.
Recent developments in Vocational Education and Training (VET)
The ETF’s thematic remit, as described in its founding Regulation, is to contribute to development of vocational training systems in partner countries.
In recent years education and training policy in the EU has switched from considering the different sectors separately to embracing a lifelong learning (LLL) perspective involving a holistic view of education and training as part of an entire learning system encompassing primary and secondary education, higher education, initial and continuing VET, and further and adult education.
Furthermore, LLL is considered to be a key factor in achieving the Lisbon goals as it can equip people with the knowledge, skills and wider competences to work and live as active citizens in a dynamic and fast changing economy and society.
In this context, traditional vocational training, defined as a procedure providing people with work-related skills of immediate use in the labour market, cannot be considered in isolation from developments in other areas of education or long-term labour market trends.
Following successive amendments to its founding Regulation, the ETF’s geographical scope was until now defined by reference to the external relations programmes under which it was operating (PHARE, CARDS, TACIS, MEDA).
As from 2007 these programmes have been replaced by new external relations policy instruments, mainly the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).
The introduction of these new external relations policy instruments marks a significant further step towards a policy-driven, rather than a programme-driven, approach to external assistance within a sector-wide perspective. These instruments are designed to help partner countries achieve home-grown reforms in different sectors.
In this new context, the ETF will increasingly be required to provide the Commission with information and analysis at the policy development and assistance programming phase, as well as to contribute, at the Commission's request, to analysis of the overall effectiveness of training assistance to the partner countries. The other focus of attention will be on helping partner countries build capacity to define and implement reform strategies appropriate to the national context, and on promoting networking and exchange of experience and good practice between the EU and the partner countries and amongst partner countries themselves.
ETF’s external evaluation
In line with Article 17 of the ETF’s founding Regulation, as modified by Council Regulation 1572/98 i, an external evaluation of the ETF’s activities during the period 2002 – 2005 was carried out in 2005. The evaluation's final conclusions, together with a series of recommendations, were presented to the Commission in 2006, and were the subject of a Communication from the Commission to the Council and to the European Parliament adopted on 19 December 2006 i.
The evaluation confirmed that the work furnished by the ETF is seen as good value and concluded that the Commission services and the EC delegations have a positive perception of the ETF’s provision of expertise in VET.
The evaluators also addressed a series of recommendations that require action either by the Commission or by the ETF itself. The Commission analysed the evaluators’ findings, conclusions and recommendations, and took them duly into account, when drafting this legislative proposal. The most important recommendations in this context are set out below.
The evaluators concluded that the ETF’s thematic remit limiting it to VET is too restrictive and, although it has been interpreted over the last years with some flexibility by both the Commission and the ETF, they recommended that the revision of the ETF founding Regulation should define the ETF's role on the basis that VET is one part of a wider programme of Human Resources Development (HRD).
The evaluators argued for some increased flexibility in the ETF’s geographical scope, as this would allow its particular expertise to be used by the Commission in countries which are at comparable stages of development and facing similar socio-economic challenges. At the same time, the evaluators stressed that this flexibility has to be accompanied by rigorous prioritisation of the ETF’s activities.
The evaluators highlighted their conclusion that the Governing Board's strategic role should be reinforced and that the Advisory Forum, although acting as an important and useful network of experts, falls short in its role of providing advice to the Governing Board and should probably not keep its current statutory function.
In the light of the above reasoning, the Commission proposes the following:
- the ETF’s thematic remit should be broadened, to cover human resources development (HRD), in particular education and training in a lifelong perspective, as well as related labour market issues;
- furthermore, the ETF’s geographical scope has to be updated and redefined by reference to the new European Union's external relations policy instruments and priorities;
- within this new working environment, the ETF’s functions must be adapted accordingly while remaining focused on priorities clearly established in coordination with the Commission;
- the Foundation's governing structures need to be modernised, with a view to promoting effective decision-making and contributing to long-term convergence with other Agencies, as provided for in the IIAOFA.
Justification of the Commission’s proposal
This proposal provides for necessary amendments to the founding Regulation and contributes to simplifying the legislation related to the ETF.
Following its adoption in 1990 the ETF’s founding Regulation was amended three times (in 1994, 1998 and 2000) to extend the geographical scope of the ETF’s activities to the TACIS, MEDA and CARDS countries respectively. Furthermore, the founding Regulation was amended a fourth time, in 2003, to bring it into line with the new Financial Regulation.
As there is currently a need to substantively amend this Regulation, as explained in paragraph 2 above, the Commission considers that this is the occasion to use the recasting technique, as described in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts i, in order to adopt a single legislative text which simultaneously makes the desired amendments, codifies those amendments with the unchanged provisions of the earlier acts and repeals those acts.
Article 235 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (current Article 308) provided the legal basis for the ETF’s founding Regulation.
However, paragraph 4.1 of the Communication on the operating framework for the European Regulatory Agencies i states that " the legal instrument creating [an Agency] must be based on the provision of the Treaty which constitutes the specific legal basis for that policy ".
The Commission considers that the new thematic remit of the ETF, as described in this recasting Regulation, although wider than 'traditional' vocational training, remains closely related to the EU policy in this specific field.
Therefore, Article 150 of the Treaty on vocational training, and especially paragraph 3 thereof stipulating that ' the Community and the Member States shall foster cooperation with third countries and the competent international organisations in the sphere of vocational training ', seems to be the appropriate legal basis for the ETF founding Regulation.
Paragraph 4 of the same Article stipulates that the proposed legal act is to be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty (co-decision).
The recast founding Regulation contains 27 articles in total. Most of the existing articles have either been supplemented through new references or additional elements, while others have been moved to other parts of the text and/or rephrased with a view to providing a more readable and succinct version. Some completely new articles have been added, mainly to address elements recommended under the IIAOFA. A number of articles have remained unchanged, while others have been deleted, as they were obsolete or redundant.
The reference to the legal basis has changed, as old Article 235 (current 308) of the Treaty was replaced by Article 150, for the reasons explained under point 5 above.
The recitals have been modified as follows: a first recital has been added to indicate that the new legal act constitutes a recasting of the earlier one; a new recital refers to the Foundation's seat; three new recitals have been added to clarify the situation regarding previous modifications of the founding Regulation; three new recitals have been added as a reference to the new EU external policy instruments and the need for human resources development in the countries covered by these instruments.
Furthermore, a new recital refers to the recent external evaluation of the ETF and the related Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, as this proposal takes into account the conclusions of this Communication.
Finally, a series of new recitals refer to the role of the Governing Board and the obligation of the Foundation to apply the Community rules and procedures in relation to: budgetary and financial questions; combat against fraud, corruption and unlawful activities; public access to documents; processing of personal data. The last recital confirms that the proposed Regulation respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
The main substantive changes are described below:
As explained above, the emerging importance of the lifelong learning approach to education and training and the continuing importance of labour market issues in the ETF's work have meant that, in practice, the Foundation’s concerns have always been broader than the wording of its thematic remit would suggest.
In order to formalise this state of affairs, it is proposed that ETF’s thematic remit should be broadened to cover ' human resources development, in particular education and training in a life-long learning perspective, and related labour market issues '.
The Commission considers that the ETF, which has limited resources, should maintain its geographical focus. It is therefore proposed that the ETF’s primary scope be defined by reference to the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) and to the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). To enable the ETF to operate in accordance with external relations priorities in areas falling outside its primary geographical scope (such as the Central Asian countries), an ad hoc decision should be taken by the ETF Governing Board on proposal from the Commission.
Formerly 'eligible countries' are from now on referred to as 'partner countries'.
In view of the Foundation’s envisaged new role under the new external relations policy instruments, its functions should be redefined as follows:
- providing information, policy analysis and advice on human resources development issues and their links to sector policy objectives in the partner countries;
- supporting relevant stakeholders in partner countries to build capacity in human resources development;
- facilitating the exchange of information and experience among donors engaged in human resources development reform in partner countries;
- supporting the delivery of Community assistance to partner countries in the field of human resources development;
- disseminating information and encouraging networking and exchanges of experience and good practice between the European Union and partner countries and amongst partner countries on human resources development issues;
- at the Commission's request, contributing to the analysis of the overall effectiveness of training assistance to partner countries.
The Foundation's seat is referred to in paragraph 2, and some further details specifying cooperation with the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) are added in paragraph 3, while paragraphs 4 and 5 include provisions on administrative control by the European Ombudsman as well as modalities for the establishment of co-operation agreements between the ETF and other relevant bodies.
These articles expand the scope of the old Article 4a on access to documents by including provisions on transparency and confidentiality recommended under the IIAOFA and provide for the necessary remedies in this context.
Articles 7 (Governing Board), 8 (Voting rules and tasks of the Chairperson) and 9 (Powers of the Governing Board)
With a view to promoting effective decision-making and minimising operating costs, article 7 proposes a restructuring of the ETF’s Governing Board, taking into account the principles set out in the IIAOFA, as follows:
- the number of representatives on the Governing Board is limited to fifteen;
- the Commission and Council should designate an equal and limited number of members (six each);
- in the interest of transparency, the Commission will also designate three representatives of the partner countries as non-voting members of the Board;
- all members of the Board will be appointed on the basis of their experience of the sector concerned and with regard to gender equality for a five-year term (instead of the current three years).
Article 9 sets out the Governing Board's duties and tasks in a succinct and more coherent way.
Since the Advisory Forum no longer holds a statutory function as an organ of governance of the ETF, this article is removed from the founding Regulation. However, the Advisory Forum may continue as an activity of the ETF, working through the form of regional seminars. This position is supported by the external evaluation findings.
This article brings the Director's appointment procedure into line with the IIAOFA recommendations and with more recent discussions at interinstitutional level on this matter. Specific provisions are included with regard to the evaluation of the Director and the possibility to extend its term of office once and for no more than three years. The Director's duties are set out in a succinct and more coherent way. A clear provision on the Governing Board's role in disciplining and dismissing the Director has been added in paragraph 5.
This new article is in line with the IIAOFA recommendations.
This is a new article presenting in a succinct and more coherent way the procedure for preparing and adopting the annual work programme, previously set out in old article 5. A four-year framework perspective is proposed instead of the current three-year one.
This is a new article presenting in a detailed way the procedure for preparing and adopting the annual activity report; previously this procedure was partially covered by paragraph 9 of the old Article 5.
This article contains a more comprehensive and sustainable presentation of the old Article 8 with no reference to specific actions.
These articles remain largely unchanged, with some minor simplifications. A new paragraph 11 is added to Article 17, to ensure that the Director will take all necessary steps to act on the observations accompanying the decision giving discharge.
This article provides, in line with IIAOFA recommendations, for the possibility of the EP and the Council to ask for a hearing with the Director of the Foundation on any subject relating to the latter's activities.
Paragraphs 2 to 4 have been added to ensure ETF compliance with sound accounting rules and action to combat fraud.
Articles 20 (Privileges and immunities), 21 (Staff Rules), 22 (Liability) and 23 (Participation of third countries)
These articles remain largely unchanged. A sentence is added to Article 21 (Staff Rules) to include, in line with the IIAOFA recommendations, a reference to the arrangements of Article 110 of the Staff Regulations and Article 127 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, as well as to the possibility of seconding national experts to the Foundation. In the first paragraph of Article 23, the phrase 'in the training field to the eligible countries' has been replaced by 'in the human resources field to the partner countries', to bring the terminology into line with Article 1, while a sentence added at the end of the same paragraph clarifies the conditions of participation for third countries.
This article is supplemented in keeping with IIAOFA recommendations and provides for an extension of the evaluation cycle to four years, to take into account the four-year programming perspective.
This article links future revisions of the founding Regulation to future evaluations, and provides for the possibility to repeal the founding Regulation if the ETF’s existence is no longer justified with regards to the objectives assigned to it.
This article repeals the earlier Regulations and provides that references to those acts shall be regarded as references to the recasting Regulation and be read in accordance with the correlation table annexed to it, as required by Article 7(b) of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts.
Subsidiarity and Proportionality
The ETF tasks, as reformulated in this proposal, are ' to contribute, in the context of EU external relations policies, to improving human resources development, in particular education and training in a lifelong learning perspective, and related labour market issues ' in specific partner countries. This proposal includes a list of precise functions to be exercised by the ETF ' within the limits of the powers conferred on the Governing Board and following the general guidelines established at Community level '. In this way, the ETF conforms to the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.
Contents
- Budgetary implications
- Context and objectives of the proposal
- New external relations policy instruments
- Thematic remit of the ETF
- Geographical scope
- Governance structures
- Conclusion
- Choice of legal instrument: recasting Regulation
- Legal Basis
- Commentary on the text proposed
- Article 1 (Subject matter and scope)
- Article 2 (Functions)
- Article 3 (General Provisions)
- Articles 4 (Transparency), 5 (Confidentiality) and 6 (Remedies)
- Articles 7 (Governing Board), 8 (Voting rules and tasks of the Chairperson) and 9 (Powers of the Governing Board)
- Old Article 6 (Advisory Forum)
- Article 10 (Director)
- Article 11 (Public interest and independence)
- Article 12 (Annual work programme)
- Article 13 (Annual activity report)
- Article 14 (Links with other Community actions)
- Articles 15 (Budget), 16 (Budgetary procedure) and 17 (Budget implementation and control)
- Article 18 (European Parliament and Council)
- Article 19 (Financial rules)
- Articles 20 (Privileges and immunities), 21 (Staff Rules), 22 (Liability) and 23 (Participation of third countries)
- Article 24 (Evaluation)
- Article 25 (Review)
- Article 26 (Repeal)
- Article 27: Entry into force
This proposal does not introduce any new activities for the ETF. Its objective is rather to provide for an updated and clearer definition of ETF's current functions, under a wider thematic remit (HRD) and a renewed geographical scope. However, it is considered that the wider thematic scope as well as the focus on information and policy analysis tasks (with a parallel reduction of project management as from 2008) should represent a more labour intensive work that is expected to require an important investment on behalf of the ETF in terms of staff training and qualification. Therefore, a legislative financial statement explaining the budgetary needs of the ETF in the next years is attached to this proposal.