Beauticians in an enlarged Europe

The Malta Association of Beauty Therapists (MABT), which is also a founder member of The European Confederation of Beauticians and Cosmeticians (CEPEC), is continuously working to seek better work and training conditions and harmonisation of the sector both locally as well as in Europe.

The question of how the EU enlargement to 10 new countries will impact the beautician enterprises is of great interest to such enterprises now that enlargement has become a reality. In fact, the European Commission has promoted an action, supported by SMEs organisations, to inform the European SMEs on the possible impact, in terms of opportunities and risks, of the enlargement on small, medium and craft enterprises.

The number of beautician enterprises in the EU, considering the available data on 11 out of 15 countries, is about 114,000, employing about 350,000 workers; and the number of beautician enterprises in the new member countries is estimated to be 11,600 employing 30,000 workers. The beautician sector is expanding in all EU countries due to the increase in consumer demand as a result of the general standard of well being and the attraction to the profession by the young generation.

It is important to say that "the macroeconomic aspects of the EU enlargement will be moderate but positive. Several model simulations suggest it will add about 0.2 per cent to overall GDP growth. The economic environment therefore will improve".

Secondly, research on the impact of enlargement on small and medium sized enterprises in general shows that it "will not be the same for all sectors, regions and type of enterprises, especially during the initial phase".

Finally it is also important to add that "the possible consequence will expose more countries bordering the new members. In fact, craft and small enterprises tend to serve local needs so that the influence of the enlargement on them is likely (to be) more moderate".

Migration also is one of the main concerns with regard to the impact of enlargement on SMEs. On this issue, following the central migration scenario described in a report by the Commission, "it is assumed that around 180,000 migrants from the new member countries will enter each year into the EU from 2005 onwards. It is also assumed that their destination patterns will follow the present distribution of CEEC-10 residents in the EU-15 (two-thirds going to Germany and one 10th to Austria). Labour market rigidities in Europe may, however, prevent a full absorption of migrant flows".

Starting from this basic element, it is important to deepen the analysis at sector level in order to give the beautician entrepreneurs of the EU sufficient elements to understand the new scenario.

On the sector level, in fact , the analysis made so far shows that the sectors mostly exposed to risk are those characterised by high labour intensity. The beautician enterprises, being a personal sector service, is among these and therefore the risk of the increase of the informal economy is a possible consequence to be taken under control.

But the other aspect of the question is that the beautician sector in the new EU countries is also a high skilled one and therefore the beautician enterprises can benefit from skilled workers in their own activity, within a perspective of cooperation.

It is also important to know which are the conditions and expectations of the beautician enterprises in the new EU countries.

The expectations which can benefit the profession are seen to fall under the following aspects: a) education abroad, b) a larger supply of products, c) better credits, d) lower price of products and e) EU standards.

The main benefits of EU membership mentioned by the new EU countries are seen therefore from the point of view of the direct impact on enterprise performance. In this case, beautician enterprises show a strong interest in the Europeanisation/integration of the profession by adopting EU standards and promoting European dimensions in education.

Practically, beautician enterprises in the new EU countries expect benefits from EU policies under the two main aspects of the EU action towards the enterprises: a) improvement of the economic environment for the enterprise development and b) support to adapt to the new conditions and the structural changes of the economy in Europe.

The strong interest in the integration of the profession and the matching of the expected benefits of the new EU countries vis-à-vis the needs of the old 15 member states will mean that enlargement will have a positive impact on the action which will be taken by SMEs association at European level to improve the profession.

This has already been seen in the preparations made by the new countries in view of EU membership.

Cooperation among EU organisations is an important tool to boost the representation of the sector in order to promote policies, programmes and organisational conditions for the development of the enterprises in question. Important issues on the agenda include the proposed directive on the recognition of professional qualification and the proposed directive on the provision of services.

The beautician enterprises have a clear vision of the challenges which the profession will face and what to expect from EU policy.

At the top of the list of the challenges is the harmonisation of qualifications, the regulation of profession and non-restriction of the practice of the profession in order to introduce a wider European dimension and to meet quality standards and consumer demand.

The profession clearly sees the importance of EU policy in the promotion of better conditions for the exercise of the profession, starting from:

¤ the implementation of an effective practice of mutual recognition of professional qualifications, according to EU Directive 44/99;

¤ support for the harmonisation of professional qualifications;

¤ the exchange of professional experiences;

¤ the valorisation of informal training and continuous training in the beautician enterprises and

¤ cooperation between the organisations catering for professional beauticians.

These conditions are common to the expectations of the beauticians of both the old and also of the new EU member states and enlargement can impact positively on their implementation.

Information, participation in the decision-making process of EU legislation and in the EU social dialogue are seen by the beautician organisations and their enterprises as the key elements to face the challenges of enlargement. These elements will enable them to operate and to face the challenges of enlargement which, by introducing a new scenario, also require the need to put in place adequate conditions in order to realise the expectations of the beautician enterprises and to improve the practice and allow the growth of the profession in an

Mr Palmieri is CEPEC's general secretary and Ms Magri Naudi is president, MABT.