LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) — It will be easier for professionals to travel and work in the 25-nation European Union after EU ministers agreed new rules yesterday which ensure their qualifications are recognized across the bloc. The rules aim to increase labor mobility inside the EU — which is lagging behind the United States when it comes to people traveling to find a job — and are seen as an important part of the EU’s drive to stimulate more economic growth. EU competitiveness ministers adopted the so-called directive that obliges EU states to recognize skills acquired elsewhere in the bloc. Professionals on short-term assignments in another member state will only have to produce a document proving they have obtained their qualification in their home country or show they have two years of professional experience. There will still be minimum, Europe-wide standards for key sensitive professions such as doctors, pharmacists, obstetricians and architects. The directive secured a majority despite Greece and Germany voting against, and Luxembourg abstaining. The new rules will enter into force sometime in 2007.

The cost of telecom provider OTE’s voluntary redundancy plan for a third of its work force is estimated at about 1 billion euros for its main pension fund TAP-OTE, the fund said yesterday. OTE is targeting roughly 6,000 redundancies out of a work force of 16,215, over a 12-month period.