2. Considers, nevertheless, that combating poverty and removing obstacles to countries’ development can make a decisive contribution to democratic processes;

12. Believes, however, that one of the problems in the European Union concerns the supply of a skilled and adaptable workforce in competitive and innovative companies; stresses that the priority should be given to the creation of a flexible labour market by raising educational levels and expanding apprenticeship opportunities, training and retraining programmes; implementing effective policies against discrimination and breaking down barriers to the integration into the labour force of women, migrants, older or younger workers and other discriminated disadvantaged groups; removing obstacles to occupational and geographic mobility; an ...[+++]d active labour market policies that support the transition from an old job to a new job; emphasises the decisive role of skilled and adaptable employees and new technologies in education and training and recalls the new forms of flexibility offered by the social partners' agreement on teleworking, part-time and fixed-term work; disagrees with the Commission's distinction between insiders and outsiders;

10. Believes, however, that the biggest problems in the EU concern the supply of a skilled and adaptable workforce in competitive and innovative companies; stresses that the priority should be given to the creation of a flexible labour market by raising educational levels and expanding apprenticeship opportunities, training and retraining programmes; by implementing effective policies against discrimination and by breaking down barriers to the integration into the labour force of women, migrants, older or younger workers and other discriminated disadvantaged groups; by removing obstacles to occupational and geographic mobility; and b ...[+++]y active labour market policies that support the transition from an old job to a new job; emphasises the decisive role of skilled and adaptable employees and new technologies in education and training and recalls the new forms of flexibility offered by the social partners' agreement on teleworking, part-time and fixed-term work; disagrees with the Commission’s distinction between insiders;

The Barcelona European Council of March 2002 welcomed the Commission Action Plan to remove the barriers within European labour markets by 2005, including those resulting from failure to recognise formal qualifications and non-formal learning.

In Greece, a Design For All programme is being developed, including the removal of architectural obstacles aiming at designing cities that are friendly to people with disabilities (pavements, squares, pedestrian crossings).

The debate is continuing on how to do away with the main obstacles, and measures are being taken to achieve this, the focus being on recognising foreign certificates, taking into account periods of study or training spend abroad, portability of financial assistance and compensation measures, clarifying the reference frameworks of qualifications, etc.