Brussels, 26/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - Tackling religious radicalism will be at the very heart of the work of the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU. This was made clear by Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker and Secretary of State for Health, Wellbeing and Sport Martin van Rijn who were invited to attend the meeting of the European Parliament's culture and education committee on Monday 25 January.
“We must have the courage, in Council, to take on even the most difficult fights. That's what we will do”, stated Bussemaker before setting out her priorities.
Education. The minister announced three priorities: (1) developing talent by building “links between education, the labour market and society”; (2) tackling radicalisation through citizenship education, empowering teachers and building bridges with the media (three points contained in the Paris declaration, adopted in the wake of the 2014 terrorist attacks; (3) integrating refugees in the education system, thanks to the sharing of best practice in Council.
Culture and the media. Bussemaker said the Council was keenly awaiting the revision of the audiovisual media services directive. “Since the Commission is expected to bring forward its proposal only in the spring, we will concentrate our efforts on the revision of copyright and the strategy for a digital single market as a whole”, she indicated, adding that a conference on cross-border access to digital works would be organised. A further priority is to strengthen Europeana, the European digital library launched by the European Commission in 2008. “Among the challenges to be met, let us mention, among others, greater involvement of the public, the member states, national organisations, etc. In the longer term, consideration must be given to more sustainable funding for Europeana, which is currently supported by national grants and European Commission funding”, the minister commented. In reply to questions from MEPs, she indicated, too, that the Presidency would support the idea of a year of European cultural heritage if the Commission were to respond positively to the request from MEPs for 2018 to be made the Cultural Heritage Year.
Sport. Van Rijn spoke principally about the proposals for decisions by the Council on the signing, on behalf of the EU, of the Council of Europe convention on the manipulation of sports competitions in relation to issues related and not related to the definition of criminal offences. The proposals are currently being held up in Council by Malta (which wants the definition of illegal gambling removed). The secretary of state said that the Dutch Presidency was continuing the work of the previous Luxembourg Presidency. It will also bring forward a policy statement on integrity in sport and will hold a conference on doping on 15 June. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)