Brussels, 09/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The next meeting of the Education, Youth and Culture Council will be held in Brussels on 13 and 14 November, chaired by Finnish transport and communications minister Susanna Huovinen and Finnish culture minister Tanja Saarela on Monday and by Finnish education minister Antti Kalliomaki on Tuesday. Monday's meeting will focus on broadcasting, audiovisual, culture and youth affairs. The ministers will start by trying to decide on guidelines for the review of the Television without Frontiers Directive in a public debate which form the highlight of the two-day meeting. Awaiting the first reading at the European Parliament (to adopt the report by Ruth Hieronymi at the 11-14 December plenary following a vote at the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee on Monday evening), the ministers will try to agree on the European Commission's plans, unveiled on 13 December 2005, based on a compromise deal put forward by the Finnish Presidency. The Council held its first exchange of views on 18 May 2006, when ministers tended to back extension of the current directive to all services, including digital. They are now calling for greater clarity, however, on the defining of digital and analogue and how to protect young people. They also want clarity on the facilities set out in the directive to ensure good development of the audiovisual industries. Four questions remain to be settled: the scope of the directive, the question of jurisdiction, product placement and quantitative advertising rules. The question of country of origin has not been queried by either the ministers or the European Parliament, but some Member States have raised questions about strong wording for the country of origin issue. The Commission says it is for Member States to decide whether they want to implement stricter rules than those set out in the directive. On the easing of restrictions on advertising, the European Commission's proposals seem to have been accepted, apart from the 35 minute rule (the idea of allowing ad breaks every 35 minutes). The Finnish Presidency compromise suggests allowing ad breaks every 30 minutes. On the controversial question of product placement, consensus seems to be emerging at the Council and Parliament on agreeing to the Commission's idea of allowing product placement in films but banning it for sensitive programmes like news and children's television. Only Germany is still arguing for the banning of product placement across the board. Another issue expected to arise in the debate is the independence of national media watchdogs, which the Commission sees as vital but only Latvia and the Netherlands seem to want guarantees of independence. Other Member States' governments do not want to give up control of the media in their country, regrets the Commission. The ministers are not expected to reach firm agreement at the end of the meeting - a common position (agreement) is not expected to be arrived at until May 2007.
The review of the Television without Frontiers Directive is expected to introduce common minimum standards for all audiovisual media and broadcasting, regardless of the broadcasting platform used, and updated rules on advertising, and more flexible legislation for broadcasters.
Another issue to be addressed in the audiovisual services part of the meeting is digital broadcasting and putting European cultural heritage online. Ministers will be adopting conclusions in this connection calling for coordinated action from all Member States to establish an EU digital library, one of the flagships projects in the European Commission's i2010 strategy to fill the digital gap. Ministers will then discuss cultural issues and following a public debate, are expected to endorse the recommendations of the jury selecting the European Culture Capitals for 2010. On 11 April, the jury came up with a shortlist of Essen in Germany, Pecs in Hungary and Istanbul in Turkey. Ministers will then discuss the culture economy in Europe to see how it can contribute to implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. Monday's meeting will end with discussion of youth issues and research to try and get young people more interested in politics to ensure a genuinely effective youth policy.
Tuesday will focus on education issues, tackling four issues. Ministers will start by adopting conclusions establishing priorities for greater EU action to foster professional education and training in Europe (which will form the basis of discussion at the meeting of ministers in Helsinki in December). They will agree on conclusions on effectiveness and fairness in education and training systems. A public debate will then be held about the European lifelong learning certification system, designed to ensure transparency among EU education and training systems and make them more accessible to the general public - the system will establish common reference points to help Member States, companies and citizens compare certificates issued across the EU. Tuesday's meeting will close with a debate about modernising higher education systems in Europe and will address the role the future European Technology Institute might play in this process, optimising competitiveness and innovation in the EU. (il)