Brussels, 18/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - In a written statement adopted in plenary session last week, a majority of MEPs have called for public service television broadcasters in the EU to subtitle all their programmes to make them accessible to as many people as possible. In EUROPE 83 million people are affected by deafness and the ageing of the population will only see this number increase, say MEPs. They argue that citizens have the right to equal access to information, education and culture, and call on the Commission to bring forward a proposal requiring European public service broadcasters to subtitle their programmes. They highlight broadcasters' public service mission which consists, among other things, of informing and educating viewers and point out that today's technology enables television programmes to be subtitled as they go out. MEPs feel that this would also help with foreign language learning. The declaration, put forward by Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (PES, Poland), has been signed so far by 427 MEPs. The BBC has undertaken to subtitle all its programmes from April 2008. (I.L.)