DIR 36 Infringement - The Luxembourg Case (02/03/2010)
After years of negotiations, and a complaint from the Luxembourg National Nurses’ Association (ANIL), a members of EFN, to the European Commission for non compliance with Directive 2005/36/EC, the Luxembourg Government decided to increase the training of nurses from three to four years of study and the theoretical hours with 10%, in order to fulfil the provisions of Directive 2005/36/EC, in particular as regards the 4.600 hours of theoretical and clinical training.
3rd Congress of Military Nurses (22/02/2010)
The EFN participated in the 3rd Congress of the Military Nurses, organised on 19-20 February 2010, in Athens, Greece. Invited to make a presentation on “EFN Priorities & Challenges”, the EFN General Secretary focussed on DIR36, EU Workforce for health, and quality and safety, as well as the EU enlargement process and the importance of nurses in the process of peace, freedom and human rights. Exchanging best practices on nurses’ contribution to peace is of enormous importance in the development of the European map of social and Health Policies. Mr. De Raeve stressed that “As the free movement of persons is one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the European Treaty, we need to make sure that EU standards in care, standards in education and standards in health outcomes are met at EU level and for sure not watered down.” Finally, the EFN General Secretary met with the Hellenic Nurses Association, a member of EFN, to explore views on how the EFN can support alliance development between different Greek nursing communities.
EUNetPaS Coordination Meeting, Athens (04/02/2010)
Participating in the EUNetPaS coordination meeting held in Athens, Greece, on 29 January 2010, the EFN presented the work done by the EFN and its members on using Social Cohesion Funds to invest in the training of Europe’s nurses. Taking WP2 Education guidelines as a starting point, where the guidelines are referred to as a tool to turn paper into practice, and considering the emphasis the European Commission DG Employment and DG Sanco are placing on utilising structural funds to advance the skills of the workforce under the Lisbon strategy for growth and employment, links between the Social Cohesion Funds (SCF), the Commission, and EUNetPaS become apparent and should be explored. The EFN is inspired by the success of its members in this field, such as Poland receiving over 40million Euros from the SCF to invest in advancing the training of 36.000 nurses, and so invites EUNetPaS to turn the deliverables of the project into reality and join the EFN in its efforts to make a positive impact on the daily working lives of 6 million nurses in Europe.
Spanish presidency 'committed' to working with EU parliament (01/02/2010)
Participating in the Spanish EU Presidency Reception organised by ‘The Parliament Magazine’ in the European parliament to welcome MEPs back to work, Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, promised to work closely with MEPs in bringing about Europe's economic recovery, to make a stronger EU with more credibility, in order to bring people closer to Europe, and put the Lisbon Treaty into motion. The EFN took this opportunity to raise some nursing concerns to the MEPs and EU stakeholders present in the reception.
EFN Executive Committee meeting, 14 January 2010, Brussels (15/01/2010)
The EFN Executive Committee met on 14 January 2010, in the EFN Brussels Office, for their first meeting of the year, to discuss important issues related to EFN and EFN lobby process within the European arena and to reflect on the challenges and opportunities 2010 brings with the appointment of the new Commission. A very interesting discussion took place with DG Internal Market on DIR36 and the work related to the implementation and the evaluation report by 2012. The Executive Committee was, then, briefed on the outcomes of the first meeting of the EFN Constitutional working Group and amendments to the proposed terms of reference - endorsed by the Executive Committee. Finally, the Executive Committee approved the EFN Policy and Position Statements on Nursing Research, and the EFN Activity Report 2009.
The EFN wishes you all a Merry Christmas
& a Happy New Year
In lieu of sending greeting cards, EFN made a donation to the Girl Child Education Fund of the International Council of Nurses, which supports the primary and secondary schooling of the orphaned daughters of nurses in developing countries. To find out more about the Girl Child Education Fund, please visit http://www.fnif.org/girlfund.htm.
