Ski instructors: Emma McClarkin MEP calls on Commission to intervene

Conservative MEP Emma McClarkin will hold an urgent meeting with EU Single Market Commissioner Michel Barnier later today to ask him to intervene in the cases of seven British ski instructors who have been arrested in the French Alps for allegedly working without official approval.

The East Midlands MEP, an expert on cross-border recognition of professional qualifications, will see the Commissioner in Strasbourg and set out a series of complaints about France’s treatment of the instructors.

She said:

“Conservative MEPs believe this action by France is entirely illegal, unjustified and runs entirely against the principles of the single market in services and goods.”

Miss McClarkin has been a consistent campaigner for the transportability of key qualifications cross the EU and was responsible for an influential report which led to a package of legislation on cross-border recognition.

She added:

“What has happened in France flies in the face of rules which were meant to ensure that relevant and reputable qualification earned in one member state was just as well recognised in the next.

“On top of that, I hear allegations from my fellow MEPs that the instructors were treated quite inappropriately and very roughly. They must be free not only to resume their lives in France but to go back to work.

“The behaviour of France is frankly outrageous. The EU can and must intervene as a matter of urgency. Monsieur Barnier is a Frenchman himself and I hope I can persuade him tackle his countrymen directly on this.”