Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Commissioner Tibor Navracsics is currently working on two initiatives: preparation of a package for young people and the post-2020 budget allocations for the programmes that fall within his portfolio. He spoke with EUROPE about these two initiatives, which are scheduled for May, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of culture ministers in Sofia on Wednesday 28 February (see EUROPE 11971). The Erasmus + budget is likely to see a sharp increase but he could make Creative Europe part of the same budget heading as education and youth. (Interview by Sophie Petitjean)
Agence Europe: Will culture and education feature prominently in the post-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF)?
Tibor Navracsics: Yes we have the promise of the commissioner responsible for budget, Günther Oettinger, that Erasmus + will definitely not be cut. So it’s safe now.
Even more, the budget will be increased because there is a consensus amongst the member states that Erasmus + is probably the most important and surely the most popular program of the EU (see EUROPE 11968). We are now drafting the first proposal of the next MFF which will be published in May.
According to this first draft (…), there is room for manoeuvre so the minimum the European Commission is doing is doubling the budget of Erasmus + but we can envisage a bigger increase (a six fold increase or something like that). So we have different scenarios: it’s up to the level of increase of the Erasmus + budget as to what we can do and how we can implement those plans.
And what are these scenarios?
We have basically two directions on how to increase the accessibility of Erasmus + if we have more money. The first is we would like to introduce or re-introduce the secondary schools mobility schemes (Ed: which existed previously under the name Comenius). The second one is making Erasmus + even more socially sensitive: so we would like to see a broader social appeal in Erasmus + to make it accessible for those young people coming from rural families or remote areas.
Will the Creative Europe budget also be increased?
We are still debating on structural issues: whether culture will be a part of the same heading as education and youth for instance. We would like to see culture in that heading which focuses mostly on human capital, young people, the next generation of the European integration.
But some of the member states and some of the commissioners would like to keep culture under different headings, in the digital heading or elsewhere.
So the amount for Creative Europe is not consolidated yet. We are still negotiating.
Was this debated in the meeting of ministers of culture?
No. We just talked about the role of education and the role of young people.
In May, you are going to present measures to encourage language learning. Is this not an old measure?
I think there is now a momentum coming from two sources: President Macron’s speech at the Sorbonne (see EUROPE 11870) and the European Council conclusions on the role of education and culture strengthening European identity (see EUROPE 11927).
I think at this troubled time there is a growing awareness among heads of state that we have to do something to strengthen the EU identity because even the very essence and the principal mission of European integration has been put in question.
Despite these assertions, are finance ministers not often reluctant to devote more money to education?
We might have some more funding for those dedicated projects to encourage member states to introduce the learning of two foreign languages in their national curricula. And of course we can encourage them, we can make coalitions and generate critical mass to encourage the reluctant member states to do that.
Sofia also hosted the meeting of EU-ASEM culture ministers. In terms of external relations, where does your proposal on tackling the traffic in cultural goods stand?
This was a joint exercise with Commissioner Moscovici. We are still negotiating. There are some legal issues, data protection issues.
We would like to introduce more efficient ways of tackling illicit trafficking of cultural goods but some member states are concerned about their own competences.
But we are going well, so I hope that in the near future we will have a good solution. If we are optimistic, we can hope a solution under the Bulgarian Presidency.
Inter-institutional negotiations are taking place on ending audiovisual blocking. Would you have wished, like Mr Ansip, to have gone further?
Our original draft mirrors a consensus within the College. It’s our official position. I don’t want to go beyond my position. Andrus Ansip is an ambitious man. If a new position were needed, we would have to negotiate.
Are you yourself not ambitious?
We have different sensitivities, I think. He is responsible for the digital single market and I for cultural stakeholders. We have to find a common voice and a common denominator.
The prime minister of your country, Victor Orbán, does not want Hungarian culture to be mixed with others? How do you react to this?
I think he was talking about the unwelcome migration pressure in Hungary. That’s a domestic political debate. And there is a political debate in Europe as well about the role of migration and how to handle that issue.
Mr Orbán doesn’t deny that Hungary itself is a multicultural country. We have many minorities, including a very active Jewish community. What he is questioning is the migration pressure, as far as I know. But you have to ask him. (Original version in French)