Brussels, 23/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) hosted Commissioner Jan Figel (education, training, culture and multilingualism) and local associations to discuss “The European Policy in Education and Culture: its contribution to the success of the Lisbon Strategy - the role of regions and cities”. This was the fourth structural dialogue session organised at the behest of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in November 2005. CoR Vice President Jean-Luc Van den Brande emphasised, in his opening statement, that investing in culture was not an end in itself but contributed to the achievement of the Lisbon goals through better matching of means and the best use of human capital. Mr Figel said that, at Hampton Court, six strategic areas, essential at all levels, for the future of the European Union had been set out: research and development, the energy sector, universities, demographics, (illegal) immigration and security. For the first time, university potential, and how it could improve society, had been spoken about at a Summit. He suggested further developing educational cooperation. This was a matter for subsidiarity but one which had to be dealt with in the closest collaboration with, first and foremost, dialogue between regional and local institutions. He agreed with Mr Van den Brande on the importance of investing in education and training with a view to economic and social growth: “the countries ready to invest most (in education) are the ones which achieve the best economic and social results,” he noted.
In the section of the debate given over to lifelong learning, Kent Johansson (European Association of regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning) stressed the importance of promoting entrepreneurship and on the fundamental role of lifelong learning to this objective. The Mayor of Forli, N. Masini (National Association of Italian Municipalities) spoke about the special challenges that confronted local authorities in Italy (improvements in child minding, combating disaffection with school, involvement of adults in lifelong learning programmes, full renovation of school infrastructure) while stressing the value of organising twinning programmes between European classes “to develop a common European identity in the new generation”. Rafal Dutkiewicz (Union of polish Metropolitan Cities), Mayor of Wroclaw, focussed his speech on the European Institute of Technology, a Commission proposal with full support in Poland, and announced the setting up of a programme called EIT Plus, the aim of which is to speed up the development of Wroclaw to make it a “pole of knowledge which counts”. This was a “citizen initiative” which would contribute to the relaunch of the Lisbon objectives, he said. Hening Jensen (Local Government Denmark) deplored the fact that young people were failing to make use of so many resources purely because they had not been taught how to. Yet this was “a key element in the functioning of a knowledge-based society”. Saying that local authorities could not alone be responsible for the training of young people, he continued that cooperation and sharing of best practice were essential in meeting this challenge. L. Abel (Association of Danish Regions) highlighted the importance of building an educational system which articulated with the world of work: “This would be a 'win-win' situation - teaching establishments design and deliver training and courses which are at one with employers' needs; at the same time, strategies and action plans give teaching establishments clear guidelines”. In the part of the debated devoted to culture, youth and citizenship, A. Sakkers (Eurocities), Mayor of Eindhoven, favoured setting up integrated programmes in towns to promote citizens' quality of life. For L. Van Nistelrooij (Association of European Border Regions) “if we want to compete with other countries, we have first to work together as Member States”. There was not enough working together at the moment, he said. E. Sedig (Assembly of European Regions) said it would be a mistake to zap culture and education purely for economic gain: “the roots of European success are in the potential of its citizens who have to be able to develop their talents in an efficient and modern educational system based on lifelong learning,” he stressed. Finally, Jean Bombin (Arco Latino) stressed the importance that should be given to young people in the Lisbon Strategy, given their capacity for innovation and initiative, their mobility and their aptitude towards multicultural integration. He said that cultural policies were essential in terms of territorial marketing (tourist promotion of the European regions) but also to strengthen European identity built up from multiple identities: “without a positive identity, social cohesion is not enough and development impossible,” he said.