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European vocational education and training [VET] policy is subject to the guiding principle of subsidiarity. This forbids harmonisation and insists on consensus in policy matters on the basis of 'unity in diversity'. Against the background of globalisation and internationalisation of education, and particularly in the context of the debate about vocational education and training policy in Europe there are, nonetheless, increasing signs that this process of internationalisation, or at least of Europeanisation, is creating pressures on national VET systems. These pressures may not be easily defined or quantified, but they are forcing individual Member States to react to 'European' challenges. This analysis explores the opportunities and threats facing the German vocational education and training system as a result of this process.