Brussels, 25/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - By unanimously adopting the opinion on "The recognition of professional qualifications" presented in plenary by Ernst Erik Ehnmark (Sweden, workers group), the European Economic and Social Committee wants to make some amendments to the Commission's draft directive that aims to consolidate and simplify the legal framework for such recognition. The Committee states that all professional qualifications recognition systems must rest on: (1) on active support and involvement from the relevant professional associations and social partners. "The present system guarantees that, to some extent. The proposed new system does not guarantee that", the Committee comments; (2) presumptions of comparable high quality in the qualifications; as "it is essential that the consumers and citizens at large can have confidence in the quality of the services offered by migrants as well as national professionals". Furthermore, the new system for recognition of professional qualifications must be both simple and flexible, and ready to adapt to changes in the labour market or in the education system, whereas "the proposed directive does not clarify to what extent the provisions of the directive can be subject to revisions as a result of changes in education policies". The Committee also recommends that the Commission ensure greater "policy coherence in the interface between education policy, labour market policy and internal market policy", and thus recommends "setting up a Euro-wide common platform", to rekindle efforts aimed at promoting and stimulating mobility in the EU.