Brussels, 22/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 21 May 2008, the Council adopted a conclusions document on intercultural powers in connection with the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008). The document recommends taking an across-the-board approach to culture and a long view - initiatives should be taken synergistically in all relevant domains rather than simply one-offs. When it comes to education, the most suitable projects should be implemented to ensure that children of different social and cultural origins can have equal opportunities. Language learning should be actively supported, as should teacher and pupil mobility programmes. In youth policy, intercultural skills of young people should be developed through formal and informal learning and the promotion of access to culture, the arts, music and sport. Broadcasting policy could also be developed in the direction of cultural diversity by broadcasting a rich variety of cultural content. Making cultural content digital will also favour cultural diversity by ensuring greater distribution of content. The Council also adopted a conclusions document on the 2008-2010 action plan for culture which should take the following priorities into account: improving artists' mobility, boosting access to culture, developing statistics and methodologies and improving comparability, increasing the potential of the culture industry (particularly SMEs) and promoting and implementing the UNESCO cultural diversity convention. The working groups established to help achieve these objectives will submit a mid-term progress report in July 2009. (I.L.)