Brussels, 13/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Education and Youth Council on 14 February will concentrate on preparing for the Barcelona Summit. Ministers will endorse a work programme to implement the education and training system targets, discuss the European education and life-long training area and be given a summary report by Commissioner Viviane Reding. Education issues will be discussed in the morning, and youth in the afternoon as follows:
I. Education. Chaired by Pilar del Castillo Vera, the Council will:
Adopt a joint Commission/Council report for the Summit and propose a detailed work programme to monitor education and training targets. The report will highlight the role to be played by education and training in improving EU qualifications (the Education Council has already examined a preliminary version and will now be considering the final version (see EUROPE of 30 November, p.8));
Hold a policy debate on the Commission's Communication on creating a European life long education and training area (see EUROPE of 22 November, p.14) which will also be discussed by the youth ministers.
The guide the debate, the Presidency will put questions to the education ministers along the lines of 1) Do you feel that the proposals outlined in the Communication are useful in terms of drawing up coherent overall strategies for lifelong education and training? What can the Council do to ensure the strategy is effectively coherent with the targets for the education systems? 2) Which of the six activities put forward should take priority (partnerships, detailed analysis of needs, greater public and private investment in apprenticeships, access to apprenticeships and instigation of quality control)? 3) What obstacles exist for the recognition of formal, informal and non-formal education in Europe? Can transparent co-operation based on mutual trust help overcome these obstacles?
The youth ministers will discuss the youth programme's contribution to informal youth apprenticeship (confidence raising, desire to take more active part in civil society etc) and projects to help young people gain new skills and the feeling of belonging to Europe. The Presidency has prepared two questions about informal apprenticeship - What are the key points to take into consideration for life long training and education for young people? What role can such training play (experiences at national level and co-operation with international organisations, for example)?
Viviane Reding will give the ministers an outline of the Commission's summary report on the Lisbon strategy (see EUROPE Documents No. 2267/68 of 23 January 2002). No formal debate has been scheduled but ministers will discuss the document over dinner. She will also talk about the proposal to extend the TEMPUS university co-operation programme to Mediterranean countries (see EUROPE of 6 February, p.11) on which the Council will decide on 30 May, and the skills and mobility action plan (see yesterday's EUROPE, p17).
II. Youth. Chaired by Juan Carlos Aparicio, the ministers will endorse conclusions on the Youth White Paper (see EUROPE of 22 November 2001) welcoming the adaptation of the open co-ordination method to youth affairs, in a manner which remains to be decided upon but which will be done while fully respecting Member States' powers and in line with the principle of subsidiarity. Finland has doubts about the last point since it wants the open co-ordination method in youth affairs to be clearly defined to avoid red tape (annual reports, standardised use of statistics and indicators) since the whole aim was to have a flexible instrument that could be used to exchange information and good practices.