The ministers appeared, on Monday 6 February, before the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture (CULT) to present the priorities of the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council. On the menu: the subjects that will occupy the ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council.
Education. “The European Education Area is high on our priorities”, said the Minister for Education, Lotta Edholm. The Presidency thus intends to focus its efforts on the automatic mutual recognition of qualifications and the reduction of barriers to student mobility, with EU Council conclusions on the subject. To achieve this, “we need to build the necessary level of trust between Member States, different education and training systems”, the minister added.
Stockholm will also present conclusions on the skills needed for the green transition, which will highlight “the key role of vocational education and training and higher education”.
While Milan Zver (EPP, Slovenian) expressed concern about the negative impact of inflation on Erasmus programmes, probing the Presidency’s willingness to “close the gaps between actual costs of mobility and Erasmus+ [rates]”, Ms Edholm instead called for “flexibilities within the programme so that we can meet the challenges that crop up during the programming period”.
Culture. Minister for Culture Patricia Liljestrand recalled the Presidency’s intention to discuss with the Member States the impact of the energy crisis on the cultural sector. She also provides for Conclusions on artists who have fled the war in Ukraine, in particular offering them “suitable working conditions”.
Youth. The Minister of Social Affairs, Jakob Forssmed, announced that he wanted to encourage the inclusion of youth in policies (“youth mainstreaming”). Asked by Laurence Farreng (Renew Europe, French) about the introduction of “youth tests”, he said he will “gladly discuss it”, if the European Commission makes a proposal in this sense.
Sweden also plans conclusions on political participation of young people and to develop European youth dialogues. Finally, the Minister stressed the importance of young people’s mental health.
Sport. In the field of sport, Mr Forssmed highlighted the components of the European Sports Model, which includes features “such as the pyramidal structure and the open system of promotion and relegation, the grassroots approach, [...], voluntary activity and has a clear social and educational function”. While Sweden will be busy with good governance issues within the EU Work Plan for Sport, its ambition is to promote this model and ensure its smooth functioning.
Asked about possible EU Council conclusions by Tomasz Frankowski (EPP, Polish), the minister said he wanted to build on the conclusions of the 2021 European Sports Model, while assessing the need to revise them, especially regarding “representation in foundations and boards”, and the participation of young people in sport after the pandemic. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)