Brussels, 29/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - As part of the forthcoming "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008" (EYID), the European Commission has set up a group of intellectuals and experts on multilingualism to make proposals and recommendations on how languages can foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding. The group is composed of Amin Maalouf, Chair (writer, Lebanon), Jens Christian Grondahl (writer, Denmark), Jutta Limbach (President of the Goethe Institute, Germany) Jan Sokol (philosopher, Czech Republic), David Green (ex-Director of British Council, UK), Jacques de Decker (writer, journalist and cultural representative, Belgium), Sandra Pralong (communications expert, Romania), Jorge Semprun (writer, Spain), Tahar Ben Jelloun (writer and poet, Morocco) and Eduardo Lourenço (writer, philosopher, Portugal). Meeting for the first time on Friday, they will meet twice more this year to prepared recommendations to be presented at a special event early in 2008. The group has been given three priority areas of work - discussing how knowledge of other languages can provide access to other cultures and help create an inclusive society in Europe; identifying ways of fostering intercultural dialogue in Europe, taking into account the ethical dimensions of a multicultural society; and proposing strategies for communicating the enrichment potential of language learning and the meeting of languages and cultures with a view to the forthcoming Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 EU Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban said the successive enlargements of the EU, globalisation and immigration have made intercultural dialogue an essential aspect of multilingualism. (il)