On 13 June 2025, the European Commission shared with the group of Coordinators for the recognition of professional qualifications a project report on the “Feasibility of Establishing a Common Training Framework for the Profession of Physiotherapist”. This report examined the potential adoption of a Common Training Framework (CTF) for physiotherapy within the European Union, which raised serious concerns for the physiotherapy profession in Europe.

The Europe Region of World Physiotherapy, has formally addressed a letter to the European Commission on 30 September 2025 co-signed by 33 of its 38 Member Organisations (26 of them from EU and EEA countries) and by the European Network of Physiotherapy in Higher Education (ENPHE) outlining significant risks of the current proposal.

The statement warns that the adoption of the CTF as proposed in the report “may lead to increased patient risk, a decline in the quality of physiotherapy care, a lowering of national professional standards, and, over time, a potential reduction in both the recognition and educational standards in countries where these are currently high”.

The Europe Region of World Physiotherapy and the signatory national organisations call for improvements in physiotherapy training standards across Europe before considering the creation of a CTF. They remain open to collaboration as long as the European Commission's next steps include a more in-depth evaluation of educational programmes in Europe and a comprehensive analysis of the current process for recognising physiotherapy qualifications across the EU. 

You can read the full letter here: