Brussels, 13/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is to hold a public hearing in Brussels on Friday 14 January on the theme of “Education and Training: tools for Roma integration”. The hearing is organised to the backdrop of the EESC's opinion on intercultural dialogue (15 July 2008), prepared by the rapporteur, Anne-Marie Sigmund (Various Interests, Austria).
The main objective of the hearing is to give voice to the civil society representatives dealing with the integration of Roma, not least representatives of the Roma community itself, with a view to developing concrete solutions for better integration of the Roma that could feed into European policies.
The debate will be on two themes: (1) European policies towards Roma education. The Commission and the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council will take stock of their recent and planned activity in this field. Olöf Olafsdottir, Director of Education and Languages at the Council of Europe, will present the recently created international taskforce for education of the Roma. (2) Integration of Roma through education and training. Changes of best practice will be presented to those attending the hearing. Civil society representatives will set out their personal experiences and explain what they consider to be the best exchange of good practice. For further information, see http://www.eesc.europa.eu (G.B./transl.jl)