Training expert: old EU states should learn from new members

By Martin Banks

Date: 15/04/04

RE-TRAINING people with redundant skills remains a "weak spot" in the EU's efforts to become the world's most dynamic economy, says the outgoing director of the European Training Foundation (ETF).

Dutchman Peter de Rooij says current member states would do well to follow the example of accession states, which he says have made impressive efforts to prepare young people to join the workforce.

De Rooij, director of the Turin-based EU agency since its launch in 1995, called on the EU to invest more in lifelong learning and training.

"There should be a collective awareness of the need to invest in that most precious commodity - human beings," he said. "Governments and individual companies simply have to provide more facilities for people who lack the right education and skills to continue to be active in the labour market."

De Rooij also says any future increase in EU employment opportunities is likely to be centred on new member states rather than current ones.

"Although unemployment is still high in many of the new member states, economic growth and public investment in education have been considerably higher than in the countries of the current EU.

"With the last trade barriers coming down from 1 May, foreign direct investment in the region will go up further," he says.

ETF figures show a high level of preparation of the future workforce in the field of education in central and eastern European countries.

In 2002, the percentage of people aged 22 who had successfully completed at least upper secondary education was higher in the acceding countries - 90.1% - than in the EU-15 (75.4%).

In the same year, the share of the population aged 18-24 that had left EU education systems with only lower secondary education was 18.5% compared with 8.4% in the acceding countries.

"The perception that the current working population of new member states is static, with little effort put into re-training people with redundant skills, is wrong," says de Rooij. "All these countries have made impressive efforts to prepare education and training systems and their labour markets for EU membership."

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of gross domestic product in 2000 was 4.94% in the EU and 4.86% in the 12 acceding countries. But when Bulgaria and Romania, who are not joining until 2007, are excluded, the figure is higher in accession states.

However, he says new states may soon experience a brain-drain with the migration of single, well-educated young people to current, richer member states.

"This would put extra pressure on the acceding countries to increase further investment in human resources development," he says.

De Rooij will step down as director of the ETF at the end of June and will be replaced by Scot Muriel Dunbar. The agency has a 120-strong workforce and an annual budget of some €18 million.

Interview with Peter de Rooij, outgoing Director of the European Training Foundation (ETF).

http://www.etf.europa.eu/ http://www.etf.europa.eu/

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