Brussels, 15/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - There was political agreement at the Education Council on a European certification framework, which will be of huge importance to citizens' mobility, said Portuguese Education Minister Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues on Thursday 15 November. The agreement reached by the Council and European Parliament on first reading will mean that the certification framework will be able to be transposed into national legislations by 2010, and come into force by 2012, said Commissioner Figel. Mutual recognition of qualifications was very important for knowledge-based Europe, so qualifications must be recognised and accepted by member states, the commissioner went on. The Commission initiative seeks to set a common terminology to detail qualifications acquired, thereby increasing transparency and improving comparability of competences acquired in the various EU education and training systems. (I.L.)