Brussels, 26/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - To mark the European Day of Languages, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on 26 September 2011, Androulla Vassiliou, the commissioner responsible for multilingualism, and Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, signed a joint declaration to reaffirm their commitment to multilingualism. “It's a huge advantage to be able to communicate directly with the local population. Languages broaden the mind, open up new horizons and increase your employability”, said Vassiliou. The European Day of Languages will be celebrated several days in a row, with events such as conferences, games, questionnaires, poetry readings and street games. At the same time, the statistical office of the EU, Eurostat, has published statistics on language learning in schools. EUROPE will return to this.
Every year, the European Union invests one billion euro in programmes aiming to promote language skills, such as the Erasmus initiative, which allows students to study in another country, the Leonardo da Vinci programme (vocational training) or Youth in Action (volunteering/work by young people). As part of its commitment to language learning and language skills, the Commission wishes to double the number of bursaries for the period 2014-2020, in addition to €50 million also invested in language-related activities and projects every year. Working together with the Polish Presidency, the Commission will award prizes to the best national and European language initiatives, after a conference on language learning to be held in Warsaw on 28 and 29 September. (IL/transl.fl)