Mutual Recognition as the Basis of Individual Rights and Freedoms, Right to Labor Mobility and Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications in the European Union
The purpose of the paper is to analyze the role of mutual recognition in the implementation of the individual rights and freedoms on the example of the right to labor mobility and mutual recognition of professional qualifications in the European Union. The author draws a parallel with philosophical concepts that often highlight the issue of human rights in conjunction with freedom. Many philosophers have written that the freedom of one ends where the freedom of another one begins. J. G. Fichte noted that mutual recognition between free rational beings is a prerequisite for the possibility of their self-awareness. The European Union considers mutual recognition as the basis for the freedom of movement of persons and institutions - the freedoms of the European Union internal market. Without mutual recognition, it is impossible to realize the right to the free movement. The free movement of persons and free provision of services are fundamental freedoms of the internal market. These freedoms provide the individuals and legal entities right to organize and conduct business anywhere in the European Union. The mutual recognition of professional qualifications is a key mechanism facilitating the freedoms' realization; it allows qualified specialists to cross borders and carry out their work in another Member State. The mutual recognition of professional qualifications eliminates the need for retraining in another Member State. The mutual recognition of professional qualifications system, gradually developed in the European Union, is an important element of the internal market freedoms effective functioning. The European Union mechanism of mutual recognition of professional qualifications confirms the idea that recognition by rules is a guarantee of mutual freedom. The right to recognition is determined by recognition.