A ski instructor from Surrey has been fined €30,000 (£24,000) for teaching illegally in the Alps after French authorities refused to recognise his British qualifications. He claims the refusal violates EU laws on freedom of movement, in particular a 2005 directive on Europe-wide recognition of qualifications. You can read the full story here. We've heard of many people including SFN members, who have had problems getting their qualifications recognised and are thus effectively prevented from working in France.
So what do you think? Is this another example of the French being protectionist and refusing to adhere to EU directives? Or is this sensible behaviour on the part of their part?
Derek you are being a tad disingenuous ;-) - Belgium isn't remotely comparable to France from a linguistic point of view, and I'm sure you know that ;-) since it was established as an independent country only in 1830 and contains German-speaking minorities as well as the majority Flemish speakers & French-speakers. I suppose German was a concession to Queen Victoria's uncle Leopold who became their King. I never think of Belgium as a French-speaking country since I lived in Antwerp for a couple of years and only ever spoke Flemish...
As I am sure you know, French has been the official and only acceptable language for legal & bureaucratic purposes in France (replacing Latin) since September 6th 1539 when François 1 promulgated the edict of Villers-Cotterêts (as children are taught in CE2). The only exception being Alsace which has parish records in Latin for Catholics & German for Protestants acc to the treaties of Westphalia & Nijmegen. But the law is in French & only contracts in French are valid.
Interestingly, I just drove eight kilometers from Lorgues behind an ambulance with flashing blue lights that didn't go above 50 KPH and was down to 40 on the bends. Heading for the hospital in Draguignan with some poor unfortunate being worked on inside I would guess. I hope they make it.
@Robert, I remember when Diana had her big crash in Paris there was some criticism in the UK press about the amount of time it took to get her to hospital. The French authorities explained that their philosophy was to have well trained crews that could treat patients in the ambulance on the way to hospital whereas the UK’s was to just get them to the hospital as fast as possible. Of course Diana’s injuries were such that had the ambulance belted along it would probably have killed her anyway. Maybe it’s only a Paris thing(Paris and Marseille SPs are actually part of the military I believe) but I’ve noticed locally that ambulances with flashing blue lights and horn blaring seem to progress at a steady and not a flat out pace. My neighbour is a doctor, I’ll ask him about it.
Politics vr's lives...I'm also a trained Fire fighter..the only reasion the F/f's agreed to defibs on vehicles was because of the high incidence of f/f's dying of c/a's on the job. Staffordshire was the first Service to introduce Community First Response, individuals trained in basic life support skilles, trained by the service, but financed by the community. They voluteers were activated by the service and turn out every catergory of 999, i.e. from child birth to RTC's, some run on blue lights after passing their advanced driving skills and blue light training. In my department, there is not a chance in hell of the Pompiers turning out in 8 mins to nay of the jobs here regardless of catergory! Myneighbours called me twice at night , once after she'd falled and opened up the back of head and on the second occasion when her 84 hubbie had fallen out of bed and compressed hos spine. I sorted her out 1st time and took her to hospital, she wouldn't call the Pompiers and the second time I stabilised her husband then insisted we call the Pomps...but their High "C" were limited as was their kit. They also couldn't air and gas. It took 4 hours to get him to hospital, we would have had him out in 30 mins. The system here is way behind that of Staffs, the pompiers and the Ambulance service. I coming over as disrespectful, I don't mean to be, but at the end of the day it's the patients that suffer. I should add, a lot of the UK is no different from here. The First Response units were introduced by Roger Thayne who was ex Officer Commanding British Army Medical Services, it's based on the Oklahoma trauma system, easy to implement and top service for the patient(s) Mr Thayne was Head of Staffs Ambulance Service until Tony binned him as his service was too efficient and an embarrassment to the other services, strange but true...and I'm not bitter....if you want to chat about it, I'll happily give you telephone number. the curious thing is I've been asked to join the Service Security for the ville by the mayor, run by the Pompiers...supposed to be going on a course, but nothing yet...don't think the Chef du Pomp is very keen, the usual Villes not using the peoples skills....and it gets even more boring...that's why I'm trying to keep my hand in...ie running a course for the local Bhuddist centre in Plouray...don't want it to became a habit tho..(joke)
Interesting stuff and I will take it up again with the new Mayor and councillors, one of whom is a pharmacist. It's politics here. If it's their idea they will take it up, if it's somebody else's it's not a good idea until the "ownership" can be transferred. We have only 800 souls of which > half live in the actual village. I'll keep you posted! I must say that I though it was shorter than 8 minutes! In that case trained bodies could rush to outlying hamlets- if there was a proper set up.
lol...Not make it in time..that's why CPR is important, not so much the two breaths, more the compressions, good quality compressions.very, very hard to do and physically demanding. I placed three in our village, two in the village and one in a local pub just outside. I also have one in my car at the moment for a Casino royal moment.....the Mayors daft, he should have taken it, but it must be accessible 24/7 and people need to be trained to use it. defibs are virtually fool proof, all the ads suggest an automatic return which is defo not the case. regarding CPR, in all the occasions I attend a C/A, only once was someone doing compressions, two young bar laadies who had come off a F/A course on the Friday and a 74 year old arrested on the the Sunday in the pub. I'm actually doing a course for my cycling club, both trauma and CPR. I've seen lots of defibs in the villes and marches, wonder how many people now how to use them or how often they are checked..people should also be trained in the recognition of strokes and chest pains...how many of us carry a asprin? Wonder drug in a chest pain, but it's a drug and has certain contra indications, but still it's a great piece of kit in a chest pain, yes I carry two and a GTN spray,,,for me!
God I'm boring...and retired...the set up we had in the community in staffs Ambulance Service was World Class and recognised as such, until the Labour Government came along...and West MIds...and then disaster...8 mins is the crucial time by the way, that and the golden hour...yeah, I know boring!!!
Thanks and mercifully thus far I haven't needed it. Interestingly our last Mayor refused a gift of a defibrulator for the village on the grounds that only those who lived in the centre of the village would be able to benefit and those further out would not make it in time. We are earnestly hoping that the new Mayor will relent! Please forgive me Carruthers!
Lol…that advert caused so much confusion…when he said no kissing…ie do you give two breaths? I was running a course and one lady was actually waiting for the music…Nellie the elephant…that’s the one, great advert though…in around 20 years I actually one back…did about 10/15 a year, you’ll ROSCS, ie a pulse, very,very rarely a return…ah well…just to cheer you up…
Or hide....:0) I actually was reading it at 6.00am this morning...thot what the hell am I doing, 16 pages of peeps giving each other a hard time....god I hate 8.1.....and at the end, it was a completely different subject...anyone want a CPR course...or Trauma course with 20 miles from my house...oh yeah, qualifications...
@Tim What “standards” would they be Tim and what European body issued them? IT, my realm of expertise, is driven by standards and they seem to be adhered to here.