PROFESSIONS WITHOUT FRONTIERS? THE “EUROPEAN PROJECT” AND UK PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Abstract

The target date for the completion of the Single European market at the end of 1992 will see the achievement of a complex series of measures designed to promote the free movement of goods, capital, services and people between the twelve countries of the European Community (EC) (Department of Trade and Industry, 1989a). Members of the UK occupational groups to which the term “professionals” is often applied are among the people who will be able to offer their services elsewhere in the EC. By the same token, European professionals will be able to establish themselves as service providers in the UK. This essentially simple potential for free movement of professionals (a simplicity achieved, however, through complicated negotiations amongst European policy makers) brings with it a number of questions of interest to “profession watchers” in the UK. How will UK professionals, and their institutions, respond to the challenges and opportunities that accompany this EC‐wide extension to their own rights of establishment? How will they respond to incoming migrant professionals from elsewhere in the EC? What policies and practices will UK professional institutions adopt in relation to their counterparts in other EC member states? What links will they forge with them and to what extent will these contacts lead to joint initiatives at a community‐wide level? This article reports on the first phase of a study designed to consider such questions during the run up to the completion of the single market and in its immediate aftermath.

Citation

Todd, F. and Neale, P. (1992), "PROFESSIONS WITHOUT FRONTIERS? THE “EUROPEAN PROJECT” AND UK PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 26-57. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013160