Brussels, 15/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The next session of the “Education, Youth, Culture and Sport” Council will be held in Brussels this Thursday 16 and Friday 17 May. The debates will be chaired by the Irish Ministers for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, and for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, on Thursday, and by the Irish Ministers for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deeniham, and for Sport, Michael Ring, on Friday. Representing the European Commission will be Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, who is responsible for education, culture, youth and multilingualism, Neelie Kroes, the commissioner for the digital agenda (regarding the audiovisual element) and Joaquín Almunia, Commissioner for competition. Almunia will take part in an exchange of views on planned new rules on state aid in favour of cinema.
As regards the education and youth sessions, the ministers will, as a priority, discuss the orientations to be adopted as a matter of urgency in order to improve the well-being of young people (particularly by means of socio-educational activities) and to give them the skills they need to find a job. The United States/European Union free-trade agreement will be on the agenda of the debates of the Culture Ministers, as 14 member states entered their opposition, on 14 May, to the audiovisual sector being included in the negotiations (see EUROPE 10845). Illegal drugs in sport will be central to the talks of the Ministers for Sport. In greater detail, the Council will be dealing with the following points:
Education: the Council will adopt conclusions on the social dimension of higher education. Like the European Commission, many number states are concerned about the high school drop-out rates. The Council will call on member states to adopt national measures to guarantee that students, irrespective of their social background, may undertake and continue higher education. The ministers will also discuss teaching careers, as teachers are pivotal in ensuring quality education and students' success.
Youth: two rafts of conclusions will be put forward for adoption. The first of these will focus on the opportunities offered by the youth policy to achieve the objectives under the EUROPE 2020 strategy and the second on the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well-being and social inclusion of young people. A public debate on the last of these subjects will also be held.
Over lunch on Thursday, Commissioner Vassiliou will take part in a “structured dialogue” with the ministers and representatives of the European Youth Forum. This dialogue, which allows representatives of youth organisations to put forward their views on Europe's youth policy, comes as part of the follow-up to the EU conference on youth, which was held in Dublin in March and which focused mainly on the contribution of youth work to social inclusion and improving employability (see EUROPE 10805).
Culture/Audiovisual: in addition to an exchange of views on the transatlantic partnership project, the ministers for culture and audiovisual will discuss the “cinema” communication. The Council will also adopt a general orientation on the proposed decision instituting an EU action in favour of the European Capitals of Culture. It will also take the opportunity to designate Aarhus and Paphos as the European Capitals of culture 2017 and Valetta as European Capital of Culture 2018. In a political debate, the ministers will discuss the use of culture as a soft policy option in EU external relations.
Sport: the Council will adopt conclusions on dual careers for athletes, the aim of which is to assist athletes' transition to another career when they retire from sport. The ministers will also discuss the role of the public authorities in combating doping in sport, given the increased sophistication of doping products.
Over lunch on Friday, Commissioner Vassiliou will be joined by the ministers and representatives of the world of sport for a lunch on the theme of combating drugs in sport. (IL/transl.fl)