Brussels, 05/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou is pursuing the European campaign against illiteracy which was set in place in February. Alongside Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Marja van Bijsterveldt and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, she will be attending a conference on the subject of literacy, which will take place this Tuesday 6 September in The Hague. This event is held as part of the “literacy week” organised by the Stichting Lezen en Schrijven, the Dutch Reading and Writing Foundation, and International Literacy Day coming up on 8 September. This is the fourth literacy event supported by the commissioner since the “Europe loves reading” campaign was launched in Budapest on 21 February of this year and the high-level expert group on literacy, which is chaired by Princess Laurentien, was set up. In autumn 2012, Vassiliou will present recommendations to the European education ministers on the basis of the results of this expert group's work. Readers may recall that the European Union has set itself the objective of bringing the percentage of young people aged 15 years with reading problems, one of the basic school skills, down from 20% currently to 15%. “Illiteracy isn't just about being unable to read books. We're surrounded by words and texts - on computers, phones, billboards, everywhere. I want to encourage reading in school, at home, on buses, on trains, in the street. We need to address illiteracy wherever and in whatever form it occurs to give young people a better future', said Vassiliou. (I.L./transl.fl)