Brussels, 12/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - The next session of the Education, Youth and Culture Council will be held in Brussels on Monday 16 February under the chairmanship of Ondøej Liška, Czech Minister for Education, Youth and Sport. The European Commission will be represented by Ján Figel', Commissioner for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. The day will be organised as two sessions, the morning on youth policy and the afternoon on education-related matters. Discussions will mainly be on adoption of traditional key messages to be addressed to the Spring European Council in these two sectors. This year, these messages will take on a special dimension due to the current economic and financial crisis in Europe and in the world.
After a breakfast with youth representatives as well as with the representatives of the French and Swedish Presidencies in the context of structural dialogue, the Czech EU Presidency will begin work on youth policy. Ministers will on this occasion adopt their key messages to be passed on to the heads of state and government meeting in Brussels on 19 and 20 March. These messages cover the European pact for youth and European cooperation in the field of youth. Underlining the fact that young people make up the most vulnerable part of the population in times of economic collapse and that they are the most directly affected by the crisis, the Council calls for specific structural measures to be taken in the medium and long term to facilitate the insertion of young people into the labour market. The Council also underlines the contribution young people can make to achieving the goals of the Lisbon strategy and the need to prioritise their issues in the post-Lisbon framework. The Council will then hold an exchange of views on ways to ensure better implementation and greater visibility of the European youth pact.
During the afternoon, the Council will adopt its key messages on education and training. These messages will also be formulated in light of the current economic crisis. They underline the considerable contribution that can be made by education and training for recovery and long term socio-economic stability. Mention is also made of the forthcoming update of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training where member states set common objectives. The agenda of the March European Council will invite ministers to endorse an updated framework for the next decade (2010-2020), due to be adopted during the next session of the Education Council scheduled for 11 and 12 May. Finally, ministers will hold an exchange of views on the new framework, geared mainly to the role of cooperation benchmarks. For the period 2010-2020, the Commission had suggested that four existing benchmarks be kept in place in order to continue efforts made and to implement progress already achieved. These concern: - adult participation of adults in lifelong education and training; - low achievers; - early school leavers; - and tertiary-level attainment. Ministers will take a stance on whether or not to keep such criteria and whether others should be added to enhance European cooperation in these areas as the Commission also suggests (see EUROPE 9805). The Commission has identified six new fields of cooperation: mobility, employability, innovation and creativity, pre-primary school education, investment in higher education and multilingualism. At this stage, ministers will submit a general approach. More in-depth work will be initiated in the wake of the results of the present Council, with a view to adopting the new framework on 11 and 12 May this year. (I.L./transl.jl)