Education policy
- (Photo: European Commission)
The EU only has limited powers ("competence") in the area of education policy. In fact, it can contribute to the development of quality education in the Member States. Such incentive measures can be decided for EU education policy by a qualified majority in the Council and co-decision with the European Parliament (Art. 149 TEC). They do not permit harmonisation of the content of Member States' education systems.
The horisontal principles of natyional discrimination etc. and the Charter of fundamental rights apply to all parts of education. The EU Court has decided on access to student subsidies and access to universities.
Future
In the Lisbon Treaty education is placed under the heading "area of supporting, coordinating or complementary actions". In this section, legally binding acts can be adopted, but direct harmonisation of national laws is not permitted. It is possible to establish common education, but not to harmonise the content in national education.
Links
Activities of the European Union: Education, Training and Youth http://europa.eu/pol/educ/index_en.htm
Factsheet
The Lisbon Treaty and Education, students and teachers
By Jens-Peter Bonde, former MEP and President for the EU Democrats
Education is a so-called “coordinating competence” as clarified in the new
Art. 6 TFEU in the Lisbon Treaty. The Union can decide incentive measures
to promote joint initiatives. The Union has no formal competence to
harmonise national laws on education. At the same time there is no area of
education where different aspects cannot be reached by EU rules and tough
rulings by the EU Court in Luxembourg.
The Court has defined education as a service. There is free movement of
students and teachers in the EU. Schools are not only public entities.
They work in a market and the market conditions are set by treaty
articles, interpreted and implemented by the market oriented EU Court in
Luxemburg and through directives from Brussels.
It is clear that education is an obligation of every state, but no
provision could hinder the Union from establishing a joint system of
education by a decision with qualified majority. The operative competences
are dealt with in Art. 165-166 TFEU. When the EU has decided on education
the EU rules have primacy over national laws and even over the Irish
Constitution.
The Union can also enter into international agreements on trade in
education services according to Art. 206-207 TFEU. Trade agreements are
normally decided by qualified majority in the Council. Art. 207.4 TFEU
establishes a possible derogation with unanimity if international
agreements “risk seriously disturbing the national organisation of such
services and prejudicing the responsibility of Member States to deliver
them”.
It is the non-elected Commission in Brussels which has a monopoly to
propose legislative acts, incentive measures and trade agreements. The
Commission also makes the interpretation whether an agreement is
“seriously disturbing the national organisation” of education.
It is no longer the Irish Dail which would exclusively decide educational
matters.
The EU Court has already established that secondary education is a service
according to the treaties, now mentioned in Art. 56-62 TFEU of the Lisbon
Treaty. There is free movement of services.
Students are free to study here or abroad according to the same rules as
the nationals of the states they are studying in. Foreign students from
other Member States have free access to government subsidies when they
have sojourned in the country of studies for a certain period. The length
is now under dispute in the EU Court.
Foreign students can even claim study places in areas where e.g. Ireland
has a big need for educating Irish students.
There are special directives for mutual recognition of educational
qualifications, which have been assembled in a new directive which entered
into force in October 2007. These directives also harmonise the content of
a wide range of educational qualifications. Previously there were special
directives for doctors, nurses, architects, dentists, pharmacists,
veterinary workers and midwives.
There are also special EU rules financing student travels abroad for
educational purposes, e.g. Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, Grundtvig
and – Comenius for basic schools.
The Services Directive includes education but not health. It will enter
into force fully from 2010 and then gives the Union further competences.
There were amendments proposed to safeguard collective bargaining, e.g.
nationally negotiated salaries for teachers, national tax laws and Member
State rights to decide independently whether services should be organised
publicly and/or privately. These amendments were all rejected when the
directive was adopted in November 2006.
Foreign companies will therefore have a free right to establish Education
Centres in Ireland where teachers can be paid according to much lower
foreign standards.
According to the verdicts in the Viking, Laval and Rüffert cases from 11
December 2007, 18 December 2007 and 3 April 2008 respectively, it may also
be illegal for Irish Teacher Unions to take action against such lower
salaries as long as they respect the Irish minimum salary of €8.65 per
hour when no collective agreement is universally applicable for ALL.
It may also be illegal under EU law for the Irish Government and local
authorities to request Education Centres to abide by normal Irish salaries
as a condition for public financial support.
There may be many other unknown consequences of accepting education as a
general service which we do not know about today. There were many attempts
to establish the Services Directive as a clear set of rules respecting the
laws in the Member States concerned, but they failed to obtain majority
support.
A political compromise was achieved around the whole services package by
giving up on clarity. So it will now be up to the EU Court of Justice to
decide on many issues in Irish education and Irish citizens’ access to
education and the salaries for Irish teachers and students.
It may be wise to think through all the consequences of the Services
Directive and its link with the Lisbon Treaty before approving new Treaty
obligations which can never be altered by Irish citizens afterwards.
There are also unknown consequences for education from the Charter of
Fundamental Rights being made legally binding.
The effects of the Lisbon Treaty on education could eventually be
neutralised by a Protocol stating:
“Nothing in these treaties shall hinder the Irish Dail from establishing
its own rules for all education in Ireland, all public finance for
education and allowing Ireland to have salaries in the entire educational
sector education being established by collective bargaining between the
social partners in Ireland.
It shall particularly be permissible for teacher unions and other unions
involved in education to act against what they regard as low salaries in
spite of the Court cases Viking, Laval and Rüffert. The effects of these
case judgements shall be eliminated for Ireland.”
Comments are welcome mail them to jp@bonde.dk
Read a Reader-Friendly version of the Lisbon Treaty here.
