European Federation of Osteopaths

FORE held its 8th meeting in July, bringing together 25 representatives from osteopathic organisations across Europe. Held in Stockholm during the Swedish Presidency of the EU, a key aim of this meeting was to consider proposals developed by the Secretariat, current provided by the General Osteopathic Council, to formalise the governance, membership and funding structure of FORE and to agree a draft strategic plan for the next 3 years.
Following a lengthy debate, it was agreed that membership of FORE should be organisation-based, but voting would be by country. To date, FORE has had no formal structure and decisions have been based on a consensus. Proposals on funding mechanisms, categories of full and associate membership and the principle of appointing a Chair were all referred back to the respective organisations for consideration at the next meeting of FORE, expected in November. A draft strategic plan received wide support, as well as the move towards increased coooperation and communication with the European Federation of Osteopaths, representatives of which were also in attendance.
Formalising European osteopathic standards
FORE considered the potential authorisation of its Framework documents on standards of osteopathic education, training and practice through adoption by national standadisation agencies. A representative from the European Committee of Standardisation (CEN) gave an informative presentation on the process of developing European standards, which although would not override national law, would provide some benchmark standard in those Member States without regulation - currently the majority of EU countries. As some French osteopathic organisations had already started work on developing a national standard through their national standardisation agency, they were asked to consider whether they would stop this project in favour of developing European standards. It was agreed that our French colleagues would need to confirm with CEN and the FORE Secretariat as soon as possible how they wished to move forward.Representatives from the European Federation of Osteopaths (EFO) and Forum for Osteopathic Regulation in Europe (FORE) met in Brussels on 20 May. The third event of its kind, this gathering sought to ensure that both bodies were aware of the other's activities and to identify opportunities for joint activity to promote osteopathic standards at a European level.
Originally established in 1992 as the European Register of Osteopaths, the EFO is the EU-level professional body for osteopaths, whilst the focus of FORE is on regulatory matters, in particular the promotion of osteopathic standards, routine exchange of information between registering bodies across Europe and the spread of regulation of osteopathy as autonomous healthcare profession. Key items on the agenda include the proposed launch of standards agreed by FORE and the EFO on osteopathic education, training and practice in November 2009 and the development of a European scope of osteopathic practice.
Launch reception
This high level political event, to be held in London or Brussels, will target national and EU policy makers, patients and professional representatives with the aim of sharing information about current osteopathic care in Europe, promoting European standards of osteopathy and encouraging and assisting in the development of regulation of the profession across Europe.
European scope of osteopathic practice A paper (based on the British Osteopathic Association’s Common Language Project, Quality Assurance Agency’s Osteopathy Benchmark Statement and GOsC’s draft Osteopathic Practice Framework) was presented by the EFO to debate the worth of a scope of practice at a European level, particularly in light of challenges made by other professions seeking osteopathic practice rights in some European countries. It was agreed there was a need to have a clear understanding of what osteopathy was but that this would need to reflect different approaches and accommodate the needs of different target audiences. A working group of representatives from the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, France, Ireland and the UK was appointed to take this project forward. The next joint meeting between the EFO and FORE will take place in London in September 2009.

As an illustration of the practical application of the Memorandum of Understanding between the EFO and FORE, representatives from both bodies held a joint briefing with European Commission official, Mr Jurgen Tiedje in October. Mr Tiedje has responsibility for EU legislation governing the recognition of professional qualifications, which affects the rights of osteopaths wishing to practise in different Member States.
Mr Tiedje was particularly interested in our experience of the Recognition of the Professional Qualifications directive, and we were able to highlight a number of patient safety concerns, based on the the lack of regulation of osteopathy across Europe and consequent inability of authorities to share information between Member States.
On information exchange, it was agreed that the Commission would extend its Internal Market Information (IMI) system to include osteopaths, to facilitate the sharing of data about registrants moving from one country to another.
Mr Tiedje was also interested to hear about the joint EFO/FORE project to develop a European scope of osteopathic practice and how this might help to promote mobility, as well as the potential collaboration with the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to formalise osteopathic standards.The European Federation of Osteopaths (EFO) and the Forum for Osteopathic Regulation in Europe (FORE) held their fourth joint meeting in September, bringing together 17 osteopathic representatives from all over Europe.
To express a firm commitment to this increasing collaboration, a memorandum of understanding between the EFO and FORE was drafted, agreed and formally signed at the meeinting. This memorandum commits each organisation to share information about their respective work programmes and to carry out joint lobbying activity where this will facilitate the regulation of osteopathy as an autonomous profession across Europe.
Other items discussed included:
Progress of the joint EFO-FORE working group exploring the development of a European scope of osteoapthic practice. The group is expected to produce its first draft scope document in early 2010.
The formalisation of European osteopathic standards, through adoption by national standardisation agencies.
The potential merger of FORE and the EFO. It was agreed that each body would carry out a feasibility study to review the pros and cons of merging and possible alternative structures. Both groups would report by Autumn 2010.

U.S. reports this week.

The dollar moved higher against major rivals in thin trading on Monday amid hopes for continuing improvement in the economy ahead of key U.S. reports this week.

Earlier, ongoing worries over Greece's debt problems had provided some safe-haven strength for the greenback.

"We are seeing a rally in the dollar along with equities," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT Forex.

"It's optimism that we're going to end the year strong economically and for stocks," Lien said. "That cohesiveness [between the dollar and stocks] is something new this year and suggests that fundamentals are becoming the dominant factor again."

The dollar index (DXY), which tracks the U.S. unit against a trade-weighted basket of six major counterparts, recently traded at 77.918, up 0.2%.

On Friday, the dollar index rose as high as 78.096, marking its highest level since Sept. 4, as traders reversed so-called short trades, which bet the greenback would fall further.

U.S. stocks surged in midday trade Monday, as analyst upgrades and merger activity boosted sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 105 points, or 1%, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) gained 1.2%.

In recent months, the U.S. dollar has tended to fall when the economic outlook improves and investors shift money into stocks, commodities and higher-yielding currencies but that trend has started to break down in recent weeks.

Year-end factors are currently the main drivers behind dollar trading, said currency strategists at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

"We continue to caution that while we do expect the dollar to weaken again as the new year begins, picking a top in the dollar in the midst of year-end position unwinding is risky," they wrote in a note to clients.

The greenback has rallied in recent sessions, as concerns over Greece's government deficit have weighed on the euro and as traders have started to reassess when the Federal Reserve could begin to tighten U.S. monetary policy.

The dollar is now expected to continue reacting to fundamental factors, such as rising on upbeat economic news that would make it more likely that the Fed will eventually hike rates, Lien said.

That trend, she said, should continue at least until early January when the government releases the next key U.S. jobs report for December.

The euro (CUR_EURUSD) traded at $1.4305, down from $1.4323 on Friday. The British pound (CUR_GBPUSD) edged down 0.6% to $1.6065.

The dollar (CUR_USDYEN) rose to 90.96 Japanese yen, compared with 90.43 yen late Friday.

The Japanese currency earlier received support from a report that showed Japan posted a wider-than-expected trade surplus in November.

The surplus came to 373.9 billion yen ($4.14 billion), Ministry of Finance data showed Monday, greater than the 319.2 billion yen consensus forecast of economists polled by Nikkei and Dow Jones Newswires.

"Japan's latest merchandise trade data confirmed the moderate upward trend, and the current-account surplus is also likely to maintain the upward trend, placing upward pressure on the [yen]," said Tomoko Fujii, a rates and currency strategist at Bank of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Japan.

Dollar and alternative asset classes was broken for the second time

US stock markets pushed upwards today on increased investor confidence. The inverse correlation we have seen between Dollar and alternative asset classes was broken for the second time in recent months, indicating a positive change in sentiment on the state of the US and global economy.

Dollar rose across the board during the previous session, and this trend looks set to continue into Asian trading. During the opening minutes of Asian trading the major Dollar pairs look like this: EUR/USD 1.4288/92 (+0.08%), Swissy 1.0447/59 (-0.12%), Cable 1.6054/56 (+0.11%), USD/JPY 91.09/11 (-0.08%).

EUR/USD was testing three-and-a-half-month lows in the previous session, and continues to teeter around this area, currently trading at 1.4287, just 3 pips up from the open.

For support levels Valeria Bednarik, collaborator at Fxstreet.com, guides us: “Hourly charts remain bearish despite bigger time frames hold the oversold condition, with no signs of correction yet. Well under 20 SMA, strongly bearish in the 4 hours charts, pair could extend the downside rally under past week low of 1.4260, with next key level to watch around 1.4180, 50% retracement of the monthly fall 1.6038/1.6056