In their conclusions approved on Monday 21 November, the European Union's education ministers have encouraged the EU to take action on the prevention of radicalisation leading to violent extremism. However, unlike the Commission, they only retain prevention, the security aspect and online propaganda as priorities.
The conclusions document is the Council's response to the strategy on radicalisation that was presented by the European Commission in mid-June (see EUROPE 11572). This strategy proposed key actions in seven specific areas: data collection, the fight against online terrorist propaganda, radicalisation in prisons, prevention through education, social inclusion, the security dimension and the international dimension.
The Council conclusions only focus on three of these areas. They agree that education, training, sport, cultural activities and youth work can contribute to helping young people at risk. Like the Commission, the ministers believe that teachers, instructors and other teaching staff should be better trained and better equipped. The ministers especially support the creation of a toolbox for youth workers, and also better collaboration with access service providers in order to detect extremist speech – even planning the development of units for reporting internet content, if necessary.
The conclusions do not, however, mention the need to fight against radicalisation in prison. Nor do they make any reference to setting up a list of strategies for prevention at national, regional or local level, or a list of professionals and national/regional contact points in the member states, as proposed by the Commission.
The draft conclusions can be consulted at: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13611-2016-INIT/en/pdf (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)