Brussels, 10/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Speaking to the European Parliament culture and education committee on Tuesday, Maros Šefèoviè, who replaced Jan Figel' as the commissioner with responsibility for education, training, culture and youth on 30 September, set out his priorities for action: promoting life-long learning among adults, encouraging mobility, making young people aware of the opportunities of the creative and innovative industries, ensuring fair remuneration for artists, continuing work on the European heritage label, preparing for the European year of volunteering and drafting a new communication on sport to make best use of new skills learned. He is planning a regulation that takes account of the very specific nature and the autonomy of sport. Several MEPs spoke of the change in the lifestyle of young people which required special reflection within the world of education: young people's lack of physical activity is a problem and, in a report, the Parliament has already expressed its concerns over the number of hours of sport offered in schools (Monika Smolková, S&D, Slovakia); the internet and video games have taken over from sport and have changed the behaviour of young people (Timothy Kirkhope, ECR, UK). Others spoke of life-long learning: training is a necessity but it has to be tailored to the requirements of work and has to give greater importance to creativity and innovation, stated Maria Badia i Cutchet (S&D, Spain); first of all, people have to “learn to learn” so that everyone can properly appreciate the information received, build it into their everyday and professional lives and adapt to constantly changing labour market needs, said Malika Benarab-Attou (Greens/EFA, France). Speaking of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a number of MEPs talked of relations between Eastern and Western Europe: there were still differences between citizens from the East and from the West and there had to be cultural dialogue to bring peoples closer together, said László Tökés (EPP, Romania). In the audiovisual and cultural sector, Iva Zanicchi (EPP, Italy) expressed her concern for the recording industry, severely threatened by online piracy, and she asked what urgent measures the Commission intended to take to protect European production. Other questions related to languages (language learning is better in some countries than in others, pointed out Mary Honeyball, S&D, UK).With regard to changes in young people's lifestyles, the commissioner agreed that behaviour today had changed completely and we had to move towards educational systems that took account of young people's interest in the new media and help them to derive the greatest benefit from these media without forgetting the dangers they posed (“internet/media literacy”). The European “Safer internet” programme is invaluable for teaching youngsters to surf safely on the web, the commissioner said. As for sports, the “Youth in action” programme seeks to promote physical activity among young people, Šefèoviè said. The new communication will also help schools take new initiatives to make sports more popular. Sport, as a way of integrating and exchanging, is highly important in young people's education, the Commissioner said. If one looked at the road travelled over the last 20 years, one can but marvel at the extraordinary change that has taken place in Eastern Europe and feel pride in the European Union's integration policy, Šefèoviè stated, speaking about the new East-West relations in Europe. With regard to copyright, the incoming Commission will launch a debate to find a balanced solution on fair remuneration for artists and guarantee access to culture, he said. As for the use of languages, while they always been important for mutual comprehension, they have now become indispensible for the mobility which the EU is trying to encourage among its citizens, the young in particular. Languages must be a priority for education systems, stated Šefèoviè. (I.L./transl.rt)