Background

The founding setting pattern of the Europass was a series of European statements, starting by the Bologna statement in 1999: the adoption of a system of academic degrees of easy equivalence; the promotion of mobility; the promotion of the necessary European dimension (http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/bologna/bologna_en.html) and the Copenhagen European Council in 2002: "Increased transparency by [...] the integration into a single framework of existing tools, such as the European CV, the supplement to the certificate and the diploma supplement, the Common European Framework of Reference for languages and the Europass." (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/)

There are also a number of recommendations, namely the Recommendation 2001/613/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 20th of the July 2001 on mobility of teachers, trainers, students, trainees and volunteers in the Community, which strengthened the need of the general use of documents to increase the transparency of qualifications and competences within the EU (http://eurex.europa.eu/);

The Resolutions of the Council on mobility and skills and on lifelong learning in June 2002 called for cooperation between states to allow the creation of a specific framework for the transparency and qualifications recognition based on the existing tools (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/) the Council Resolution of December 2002 strengthened the need for the European cooperation in the field of transparency in the professional training area through the implementation and rationalization of information networks and communication tools, including the integration of the existing documents, in a suitable framework, which should consist of a portfolio of documents, with a specific brand and logo, supported by an appropriate information system and promoted by a sustained action at the European and national level. (http://ec.europa.eu/)

At the same time other documents came up, such as the Action Plan of the Commission for mobility and skills strengthened the use of documents supporting the transparency and transferability of skills and qualifications to facilitate and enhance mobility within and between activity sectors (http://www.eurocid.pt/) and the European Council of Barcelona in 2002 also focused on the introduction and adoption of instruments aimed at promoting the transparency of diplomas and qualifications. (http://europa.eu)

Europass joins five European tools for the promotion of transparency that have been created separately over the past years:

• The Europass CV (introduced in Cedefop's website as a model DOC in 2002);
• The Europass Language Passport (developed by the Council of Europe, in the frame of a wider languages European portfolio);
• The Europass Mobility (formerly called Europass-Training, which began to be used in December 1998);
• The Europass Diploma Supplement (for higher education, introduced in April 1997);
• The Europass Certificate Supplement (for vocational education and training).