Brussels, 19/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 18 December, the European Commission announced that it had given Belgium and Austria the right to maintain until 2016 the quotas on places reserved for their own students in order to counter the inflows of young people coming from Germany and France to enrol on veterinary, physiotherapy, dental medicine and speech therapy courses. “The Commission has listened carefully to the arguments put forward by Austria and Belgium and taken a balanced approach which safeguards both the freedom of movement of EU citizens and their right to a high level of healthcare”, said European Commissioner for Education Androulla Vassiliou.
In 2007 the Commission launched infringement proceedings against Belgium and Austria (see EUROPE 9352), judging that the quotas they had established were in violation of the principle of free movement. However, they were then suspended as Belgium and Austria claimed that there was a risk of later shortages of qualified professionals in the public health sector on their territory. The Commission is now extending the freeze on proceedings for another four years, until December 2016. In return, the two countries must gather decisive evidence proving that the courses concerned constitute an exception to the free movement of citizens as established in the Treaties (which should guarantee EU nationals with the necessary qualifications unrestricted access to higher education in all member states). The Commission has given Belgium and Austria four years to “gather evidence on whether the sustainability of their healthcare systems was under threat”. In 2016, the Commission considers that it will have gathered enough elements to establish a solid legal framework in line with rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which will allow similar problems in other member states to be addressed, should they arise. (IL/transl.fl)