Brussels, 20/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - There is still some way to go to reach a compromise on the new programmes in favour of education, youth, culture and the media ("Erasmus for all" and "Creative Europe") which meets with the approval of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Discussions between the commissioner with responsibility for education, youth, culture and multilingualism, Androulla Vassiliou, and the MEPs of the “education and culture” committee of the European Parliament, moved to a dialogue of the deaf on 19 June and as Vassiliou herself put it, concessions will be needed on both sides to reach an agreement. Commissioner Vassiliou tried again to convince the MEPs of the benefits of bringing all existing actions in the field of education and youth together in a single programme, “Erasmus for all”, in order to reinforce coherence, remove artificial barriers between the current programmes, encourage synergies and refocus priorities, with the support of appropriate funding. The same arguments were repeated for the “Creative Europe”programme, which will bring together under a single banner the current culture programme and MEDIA programme: we need to create a new, effective tool which emphasises the intrinsic value of culture, whilst paying attention to the economic aspects of the creative sector, the commissioner said.
The very name of the programme, “Erasmus for all”, is of great annoyance to the chairperson of the parliamentary committee, Doris Pack (EPP, Germany). Giving this multiform programme the name of the well-known current “Erasmus” programme leads to confusion and the accolade “for all” “is a lie, because this programme is not for all”, the MEP storms. As for Petra Kammerevert (S&D, Germany), she described herself as absolutely dumbstruck by the Commission's words, which have not changed one iota in six months of talks. “We are not against a coherent programme, but people need to know what part of the programme is right for them”, she stressed, summing up the general mood of the MEPs, who feel that the two programmes look like a confused maelstrom, which hardly corresponds to the stated aim of coherence. Several MEPs also expressed concerns that current actions for youth could become watered down within a global programme. They also feel that informal education is not sufficiently stressed. In the face of the repeated concerns that the MEDIA programme could lose its credibility and effectiveness within “Creative Europe”, Androulla Vassiliou once again reiterated that although it will no longer have its own existence, the MEDIA programme will remain a clearly demarcated branch within the new programme, and will keep all of its specific nature and independence. “We are not yet in negotiations. I will have to make concessions, but in order to do tha, I must listen to you and listen to the Council”, said the commissioner to conclude the debates. (IL/transl.fl)