Strasbourg, 16/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - Adopting a report by Bernat Joan I Mari on Wednesday (Greens/EFA, Spain) by 537 to 50 with 59 abstentions, the European Parliament gave its full backing to the European Commission's pledge to encourage language learning in a new framework strategy. Pointing out that measures on language learning should not be limited to the EU's official languages, the EP welcomed the idea of establishing an EU indicator for language skills, since this would include all EU official languages and where possible procedurally, may cover more than the five most spoken languages and include all the EU's other languages. MEPs stressed that the EU's multilingualism proposals should not be limited to the EU's main official languages.
The EP believes there should be greater facilities to aid immigrants, people from deprived backgrounds and the disabled learn languages. The Joan I Mari report notes that language learning should be an essential part of the lifelong learning programme. The EP backed the idea of developing language-related jobs and professions. To try to fill the gap between the EU and its citizens, the MEPs were delighted at the European Commission's desire to allow citizens to get access to legislation and information and procedures concerning the EU in their own languages. (ym)