Commission urges Greece to speed up recognition of professional qualifications

The European Commission called on Greece on Thursday to speed up the procedure to recognize qualifications of professionals from other member-states.

In accordance with EU law, applications for recognition of qualifications must be treated within a reasonable timeframe, more specifically within four months.

However, in Greece this process is significantly longer, taking on average 11 to 18 months.

“This has a negative impact on professionals, who cannot access the labour market in Greece and cannot exercise the profession either as a self-employed person or as an employee,” the Commission said in a press release.

The Commission had already opened an infringement procedure against Greece in 2016, which was closed in 2017 as Greece had adopted a number of measures.

“However, it appears that these measures were not sufficient to absorb the delays,” it added.

Greece now has two months to respond to the Commission’s letter of formal notice.