Brussels, 25/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 July at a proposal by Viviane Reding, the European Commission adopted an action plan for the 2004-2006 period aimed at promoting language learning and linguistic diversity. In order to achieve these aims, the idea is to better use the existing education and training programmes to support a series of concrete measures.
The action plan provides above all for: - financing a study on teaching languages to very young children (publication scheduled for 2005); - stimulating the use of language assistants, among other things for primary schools; - financing transnational projects for the creation of language learning material for primary and infant schools; - providing, via the EU Europe site, an Internet portal for informing professionals and the general public on available language training, on the advantages of speaking several languages (the portal will be launched in 2006); - organising in 2006 a European conference on the recruitment of foreign language teachers; - supporting the publication, in 2004, of an updated version of the "Euromosaic" report (inventory of regional and minority languages in the EU); - financing the fine-tuning of an European linguistic skill indicator; - and integrating multi-lingualism from 2004 among the themes eligible for Community support in the context of town twinning projects.